FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
55 
be no let up in depression of prices, so 
far as my observation goes and I would 
like very much indeed to have the views 
of other members of the society upon 
this very important matter. 
Mr. Carroll—Mr. President, before I 
could entirely agree with the gentleman 
I think we should first look tO' the mar¬ 
ketable condition of the fruit, picking 
handling, packing and shipping and the 
proper distribution before we come to 
the conclusion that we ar?^ approaching 
an overproduction in this handsome new 
fruit. Grapefruit, Mr. President, is a new 
fruit, a comparatively new citrus prod¬ 
uct. There are thousands of people in 
this country who do not know what 
grapefruit is. They never saw the fruit, 
and when they see it they have to be edu¬ 
cated how to eat it. Further than this 
my observation is that the condition of 
the marketable crop up to this time has * 
been positively bad. The handling and 
packing has been bad, shipment and dis¬ 
tribution has not been the best. I be¬ 
lieve I can safely say, Mr. President, that 
fully one-third of the fruit shipped out 
of the state this season has been shipped 
out in a green, immature and decidedly 
unmarketable condition. Such condi¬ 
tions as these will make the market 
♦ slump on anything. Another thing, Mr. 
President, the hue and cry was raised 
some years ago that we were on the 
verge of overproduction in oranges. 
We do not hear any more about it 
now. The proper handling, picking, pack¬ 
ing and shipment of the orange crop se¬ 
cures good prices on the market. I believe 
it will be the same with grapefruit. Let 
us rather make improvement first in these 
important conditions, Mr. President, and 
give the great markets of this country a 
taste of the delicious grapefruit before we 
indulge in the pessimistic views of over¬ 
production. I am an optimist in the 
matter of the grapefruit industry, as I 
am with regard to almost the entire fam¬ 
ily of Florida citrus fruits. Give us some 
legislation if it is needed in the matter 
of crateage and package and rates. Let 
us send our fruit to market in prime con¬ 
dition and I believe the low prices will 
abate and vanish. 
Mr. Connor—I think you will find, Mr. 
President, that attention is called in my 
paper tO' marketable conditions. These 
conditions must be bettered before we 
can expect to realize better prices. The 
matter is a very serious one and we must 
seek the cause. I am inclined to believe 
myself that there is now a partial over¬ 
production of grapefruit, or to put it 
transversely, under-consumption. The 
conditions exist and they should be met 
if it is possible to meet them or suffer 
disastrous consequences. 
Mr. Blackman — Mr. President. I 
heartily concur in the remarks of Mr. 
Carroll. During my travels last summer 
I came across scores of people who had 
never heard of grapefruit and did not 
know what it was, and didn’t know how 
to eat it when they saw it, but who weie 
all delighted with the fruit when it was 
offered them and they liad once tasted 
it. If this be true, and it most assuredly 
is true, how can we apprehend overpro¬ 
duction in this comparati\ely new citrus 
fruit? The great majority of the pec.ple 
of this country as yet do not know what 
grapefruit is. They have never seen it. 
It has never been offered to them. It has 
never been placed upon their market. 
In my judgment, Mr. President, we cer¬ 
tainly should not apprehend overproduc¬ 
tion until we have at least put the fruit 
