FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
89 
its moisture on the oranges and makes 
them wet. I have my packing house so 
built and arranged that I can close it up 
entirely. If the night has been cold and 
the days are warm I close it up early 
in the day and keep my oranges dry until 
packed. If I open a window or a door, 
even for a few minutes, the oranges are 
wet. 
As to the picking boxes, to avoid too 
deep a drop, I would have my field boxes 
shallow. I would not have them as deep 
as some do. For the picking receptacle 
I would not use a bag. There may be 
less danger of injury from dropping, but 
you can tell your men to put them into 
any receptacle without a drop. When 
they put them into a bag they are climb¬ 
ing over the tree. It is a thorny tree, 
and they cannot help but get the bag 
against the thorns and branches of the 
tree, or thumping it against the ladder. 
There is a gentleman here, I think, who 
invented a metal receptacle, so that you 
can stoop down and allow the oranges 
to slide though the lower end without 
any drop. I believe we can pick into these 
picking baskets safely. They are the best 
of any kind that I h^ve found, when of 
the correct shape. The baskets are made 
by the Wakefield Rattan Company in 
East Boston. I have paid all the way 
from $1.00 to $2.50 for them. 
Member—What size of basket is most 
desirable? 
Mr. Hart—I think those that hold 
about half a box, fairly deep, but not 
wide from the body outward. The out¬ 
side should be higher than that next to 
the picker. 
Now, about brushing and washing. I 
do not believe you can put your fruit 
in really first-class shape with a brush. 
unless you have water connected with it 
someway. I wash mine particularly on 
account of the fly-specked fungus which 
gives the fruit a little cloudiness. Fruit 
shipped without has not such a tempting 
appearance, but that which has been wash¬ 
ed meets more the demands of the very 
best trade and looks like pure gold. If 
you run a brusher over a rotten orange, 
you are apt to inoculate every bristle. I 
do not think that you can get satisfactory 
results without using water. To put the 
fruit on the market in the best possible 
condition, I think it must be washed. I 
think more and more will come to that 
conclusion and adopt the washer, and 
there is at least one washer on the mar¬ 
ket that will do it in fine shape and with¬ 
out injury if properly handled. 
Out of my grove this year we lost 
simply one box of oranges from the 
whole packing. The lot in which that 
was, was shipped under extremely severe 
conditions after it left my hands. This 
year I shipped until the middle of March. 
I speak of this to show you that washing 
does not injure the fruit; if anything, 
it is of benefit. I have taken fruit picked 
by the same man, put half of them 
through the washer and the other not, 
and stored them away in the packing 
house and left them there for six or eight 
weeks, and in each test the unwashed 
fruit gave away first. 
Mr. Tenny—I would like to ask Mr. 
Hart if his orange crop was a peach crop, 
if there would be any bruises on it when 
it was shipped. 
Mr. Hart—Not if I could help it; nor 
are there any on any oranges if I could 
help it. I am especially particular about 
that, and not only have my pickers to be 
careful, but when the fruit goes into the 
