FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
87 
it might get into market in better 
shape. 
Dr. Richardson—There has lately 
come into use a different kind of pack. 
We used to put the oranges in and 
press the top down and nail it. Now, 
the market seems to like a loose pack. 
The ends of the top are nailed down 
and the center at the partition, is not 
nailed down, and it bellies out. Was 
the pack you used the loose or the 
firm pack ? I think the loose pack 
permits the fruit to* be bruised. 
Mr. Tenny—We use the firm pack. 
In any case, there was no damage in 
our experimental lots after the fruit 
was packed. Any injury that appeared 
on this fruit was made before the box 
was nailed up. The boxes were set 
in the packing houses very carefully 
and no injury was done by the drop¬ 
ping or the rough handling of the 
boxes. 
Mr. Skinner—In my opinion, this is 
one of the most important sessions. 
Now, about the picking of the fruit; at 
the start I want to say that I don’t see 
what we are going to do. I had one 
man six feet and over picking for me, 
and found him with his arms extended 
full length and dropping them down to 
the basket. I don’t know how in the 
world we are going to get rid of the 
trouble. Last 3^ear, I provided my 
men with a bag to tie around them 
that had a kind of a proboscis. I also 
agree that there is a great deal of 
trouble in the packing, but how to 
overcome it is a question. Naturally, 
this brings up the labor question. I 
shipped this past season about 60,000 
boxes, and every time I saw a fellow 
dropping an orange, it touched me 
right on a tender nerve. You can im¬ 
agine that by the end of the season I 
was a nervous wreck. There seems to 
be seasons when everything carries 
well, and then another season when 
everything rots. . Mr. Sampson ship¬ 
ped a carload of oranges to Augusta, 
Ga. and they were not over three or 
four days in transit, but when they ar¬ 
rived there, they were entirely worth¬ 
less. I do not know how to meet these 
conditions. I expect to tiy a blower 
to see if I cannot dry my fruit. The 
atmosphere in this country is saturated 
to the full point with moisture, and 
sometimes the oranges are dripping 
wet with moisture from the atmos¬ 
phere. I would like to know your 
opinion as to whether it would be prac¬ 
ticable to use a blast of that kind to 
keep the fruit dry. 
Mr. Tenny—This is a question con¬ 
siderably discussed in California. I 
am not willing tO' venture an opinion 
on it. The point in question is this: 
If the climatic conditions are such so 
that the atmosphere contains 90 per 
cent, or so of moisture, and this moist 
air is blown over the fruit, it may ap¬ 
parently dry them off, but in reality' 
the air which is around the fruit after 
it is packed is still very moist. As the 
oranges continue to give off moisture 
after being packed, it seems probable 
that if the weather is moist, there 
would still be sufficient moisture to al¬ 
low decay to take place. Regarding 
the question as to^ why one lot ot fruit 
will decay while another packed appar¬ 
ently under similar conditions arrives 
in a sound condition, is possibly be¬ 
cause the atmospheric conditions at 
the time of the two shipments were en¬ 
tirely different. One shipment may 
have been injured by the pickers, and 
