176 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
will retain that temperature until the ice 
has been reduced to one-half. After that 
the temperature of the contents will begin 
to rise and with the present equipment of 
cars and the long distance between the 
designated icing stations this does not 
seem to be sufficient to carry the fruit be¬ 
tween the regular icing points. Hence, 
we find on practically all shipments heavy 
extra icing charges which were necessary 
between the designated icing stations 
from the different orignial points of ship¬ 
ment. 
The refrigerating car service people 
have placed orders for about 10,000 cars 
which will still be inadequate to handle 
the volume of fruit from the State and 
take care of the commodities from the 
other states that require refrigerator cars 
when our fruit is going forward. The 
situation has reached such a serious point 
that the growers on the Pacific coast are 
now trying an experiment with refriger¬ 
ator boat shipments through the Panama 
Canal to the Eastern markets. Two of 
these shipments have already arrived and 
their condition was highly satisfactory. 
The shippers of this State are watching 
the experiments very closely and I under¬ 
stand that there is a large company in the 
East which is now ready to figure with 
the growers and shippers of this State on 
the transportation problem, with the view 
of building boats to carry such shipments, 
either under forced ventilation or under 
full iced refrigeration. If boat shipments 
meet their expectations and prove satis¬ 
factory to the receivers, there is no doubt 
that many boats will be converted and 
properly equipped for the handling of 
perishables; and if it were possible to se¬ 
cure reasonable rates from the different 
seaport points to the inland markets, it 
would relieve the congestion and would 
eventually expand into large export ship¬ 
ments which we will need within a very 
short time. And unless the transporta¬ 
tion people or the refrigerator car com¬ 
panies are more particular and come to 
the relief of the situation we will no doubt 
be compelled to encourage the water 
transportation in order to move the bulk 
of the different perishable products from 
our State. 
If we will set to work to grow a better 
quality and a higher grade of fruit, using 
every discretion in the grade and pack, 
and insist upon a faster schedule and bet¬ 
ter equipment, cheaper rates and better 
shipping conditions, we will no doubt 
push forward and prosper and the indus¬ 
try continue to grow and expand and 
meet fully the expectations of all the 
growers who are operating and co-operat¬ 
ing economically for the betterment of 
the conditions of the industry. 
