24 
BULLETIN 63, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Table VIII. — Imperfections found during three inspections of one picking crew, showing 
great improvement. 
Jan. 14, 1911. 
Jan. 20, 1911. Mar. 4, 1911. 
Picker No. 
Clipper 
cuts. 
Long 
stems. 
Clipper Long 
cuts. | stems. 
Clipper 
cuts. 
Long 
stems. 
1 
Per cent. 
5.2 
1.1 
9.5 
1.1 
Per cent. 
3.6 
6.1 
4.1 
25.4 
Per cent. 


1.0 
4.8 
1.0 
.6 
.6 
Per cent. 
5.4 
3.6 
9.2 
4.8 
4.5 
3.5 
3.4 
Per cent. 
1.1 
.5 
. 5 
6.4 
.6 
1.2 
.5 
Per cent. 
0.5 
2 
.5 
3 
2.0 
4 
2.8 
5 
.6 
6 
1.8 
7 
.5 
Average 
5.4 
9.9 
.9 
5.1 in 
.6 
TVhile these figures plainly demonstrate the practicability of training a crew of pickers 
to do careful work, permanent improvement cannot be accomplished without continu- 
ous attention to the details of inspection and constant urging of the workmen to better 
efforts. There are cases where picking operations were improved as long as the men 
thought that inspections would be made; as soon as these were discontinued, however, 
it frequently happened that the character of the work changed, and injuries again 
became common. Continual vigilance is therefore the prime requisite for carrying 
on picking operations in such a way that the number of injuries can be held at a 
minimum. 
PROPER FIELD EQUIPMENT. 
The efficiency of the foreman and of the picking force in general is frequently 
lowered by poor field equipment. In some instances associations of Florida growers 
have spent large sums in building and equipping modern packing houses, while their 
field outfits and methods have been neglected and consequently are so crude that 
the expensive packing-house equipment is of practically no value in so far as careful 
handling of the fruit is concerned. 
A frequent source of injury is the clipper. Unless the shears are systematically 
inspected by the foreman they soon become dull and loose at the joint, and clipper 
cuts and long stems are almost sure to follow. It has not been uncommon to see a 
crew of pickers using clippers so dull and worn that it was impossible to make a close, 
clean cut. Clippers with rounded or blunted points should also be supplied in order 
to run no risk of puncturing the fruit. 
The type of picking receptacle used is fundamentally important. Next to poor 
clippers, probably more injury is caused by poor picking sacks than by any other 
form of equipment. The old type of gunny sack, holding from three-fourths of a box 
to a full box of fruit, is still in use to some extent. Such a sack is so long that it is 
almost impossible to avoid pressing it against the ladder and branches. Moreover, 
it is made of such loosely woven material that the fruit may easily be punctured by 
thorns or twigs, and it is so heavy and unwieldy when filled with fruit that the picker 
can not always prevent injuries of this kind. The most objectionable feature, how- 
ever, is the fact that the fruit must be emptied through the top of the sack into the 
field box, and even with the best of care the oranges must drop a foot or more when 
emptied in this way. 
The best type of sack is one which opens at the bottom, so that it may be placed in 
the field box before being emptied and the fruit allowed to roll out gently without 
any appreciable drop. The mouth should be partly closed, so as to make it impos- 
sible for the "picker to toss or drop the fruits into it. The material of which it is made 
