30 
BULLETIN 63, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
the section- along the east coast from Daytona and New Smyrna to Miami. They 
represented a great variety of conditions and formed a fair average of the character 
of the fruit in the State, as well as of the manner in which it was prepared for market 
under commercial conditions. Some of the best as well as some of the poorest houses 
were represented in these tests, and a number of houses which may be classed as 
average were also included. 
Each shipping series consisted of six boxes of oranges; two of these were carefully 
picked, graded, and packed by the bureau workers; two were picked by regular pickers 
but were carefully graded and packed ; and the last two were taken from the ordinary 
commercial run of the houses from which the experimental shipments were made. 
The shipments were divided into two parts. In one the grading, packing, and ship- 
ping were made on the same day on which the fruit was picked, or as soon after- 
wards as possible, and in the other the same fruit was held for three or four days in 
the packing house before packing and shipping. The former were designated as 
"immediate" and the latter as "delayed" shipments. All lots were sent out with 
the regular carloads of fruit from the various packing houses, and the experimental 
boxes were expressed to "Washington from the northern markets to which the cars 
were consigned. Each box was inspected on the day of arrival in Washington and the 
percentage of decay accurately determined. The fruit was held for three weeks 
under ordinary open-market conditions, and inspections were made at the end of 
the first, second, and third weeks. The results obtained give a fair representation 
of the average decay occurring in a commercial pack and show the percentage of 
loss which can be avoided by more careful handling. 
Plate XV illustrates the condition in which the three lots shipped from one packing 
house using very little care arrived on the Washington market. The carefully picked, 
graded, and packed fruit (on the left in the illustration) showed 4 per cent of decay on 
arrival; the commercially picked but carefully graded and packed fruit (in the cen- 
ter) showed 35.6 per cent of decay, and the commercially handled fruit (on the right) 
had 65.9 per cent of decay. After intervals of one, two, and three weeks the three lots, 
respectively, showed decay as follows: After one week, 4 per cent, 46 per cent, and 
71.6 per cent; after two weeks, 11.5 per cent, 54 per cent, and 72.2 per cent; after three 
weeks, 11.5 per cent, 57.1 per cent, and 72.2 per cent. 
Table XII and figure 13 show the average percentages of decay found in the ship- 
ments during 1910-11 and 1911-12. 
Table XII. — Blue-mold decay in oranges carefully handled and commercially handled, 
on arrival in Washington and after holding for three weeks; average of all inspections, 
1910-11 and 1911-12} 
Time of examination. 
Careful pick and 
pack. 
Commercial pick 
and careful pack. 
Commercial pick 
and pack. 
1910-11 
1911-12 
1910-11 
1911-12 
1910-11 
1911-12 
On arrival 
Per cent. 
0.6 
1.1 
1.6 
1.9 
Per cent. 
0.6 
.9 
1.4 
2.2 
Per cent. 
2.5 
4.3 
5.5 
6.1 
Per cent. 
1.4 
2.2 
3.5 
5.5 
Per cent. 
7.0 
10.8 
13.1 
14.2 
Per cent. 
4.0 
After 1 week 
6.8 
After 2 weeks 
10.4 
14.2 
i From 79 comparable shipments made in 1910-11 and 65 comparable shipments made in 1911-12. 
Table XIII and its accompanying diagram (fig. 14) summarize the results of the two 
seasons' work and show the average of all experiments carried on during the two years.. 
In the illustration the results are marked as curves, using the percentages of decay 
for the vertical lines and the times of arrival and of holding for the horizontal lines. 
In this way the progress of the deterioration can readily be traced, and the influence 
of the different systems of handling upon the occurrence of decay is strikingly 
shown. 
