Methods of Packing and Shipping Citrus Fruits 
David Scott, Arcadia, Fla. 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
In this paper we shall attempt to give 
a brief outline of the history of the de¬ 
velopment of methods of packing and 
shipping citrus fruits in Florida. Other 
members of our committee will treat the 
more technical details of the subject. 
During the decade from 1870 to 1880 
the orange industry of Florida first as¬ 
sumed commercial importance. The fruit 
was mostly packed by the growers and 
marketed almost exclusively through the 
commission houses of the larger cities. 
As the industry assumed larger propor¬ 
tions buyers purchased much of the fruit 
on the trees and assumed charge of the 
picking and packing. They built packing 
houses usually equipped with nothing but 
simply constructed sizers. In many cases 
the fruit was sized by the eye. Much of 
the fruit was carelessly handled and 
roughly packed, and in these early days 
we hear of decay. But during the eigh¬ 
ties and early nineties a number of packers 
built up a reputation for careful grading 
and neat packing. Much of the early 
popularity of the Florida orange as well 
as the introduction of grapefruit was due 
to the efforts of the local buyers and pack¬ 
ers of this period. 
When in 1893-4 the crop of the state 
had reached about 6,000,000 boxes the 
problem pf distribution called for the best 
energies of all factors in the business. But 
during the winter following, this problem 
was solved for a time by the “big freeze.” 
There was little change in methods of 
packing or marketing agencies during the 
ten years following. A few packers 
adopted the California “Pony” box. But 
this did not meet with favor among the 
best packers. By 1905-6 the crop had 
increased to about 3,000,000 boxes. A 
number of good packs were well estab¬ 
lished, more than holding their own with 
the best brands from other orange-pro¬ 
ducing regions. But at certain seasons 
during damp weather heavy decay devel¬ 
oped in transit. During 1907 the U. S. 
Government began extensive experiments 
in Florida to ascertain the causes of de¬ 
cay. This work was ably and thoroughly 
conducted over a period of about six years 
by such men as Lloyd S. Tenny, G. W. 
Hosford, A. V. Stubenrauch, A. W. Mc¬ 
Kay, H. J. Ramsey and others. If our 
people will properly follow up the work 
of these men Florida can easily save mil¬ 
lions in a few years. Every grower or 
packer of citrus fruits would profit by 
a careful study of the results of these in¬ 
vestigations as published in Bulletin No. 
63 of the U. S. Department of Agricul¬ 
ture. 
In 1909 the Florida crop had again 
reached and passed 6,000,000 boxes. The 
spread of whitefly rendered washing the 
