90 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
washer there is not an orange goes 
through, but that there has been a finger, 
thumb or eye on the calyx, and no 
long stem goes in. If there is a puncture 
in that fruit, that fruit is laid aside, every 
orange is examiined again by the grader, 
and all found injured in any way are dis¬ 
carded. 
Mr. Gibbs—Do' you use any mechani¬ 
cal agency, such as potash? 
Mr. Hart—Up to this year I used soap, 
but this year I have not used any at all 
and found the results equally as good. I 
prefer soft water, though I use some pump 
water. I prefer soft water, and think 
the oranges can be washed without soap 
successfully. 
Mr. Julian—Could you put up five cars 
of fruit and do this? 
Mr. Hart—Well, yes, sir ; I would 
wash every orange. Of course, it is pret¬ 
ty nearly impossible for the very large 
shipper to give the careful handling to 
the fruit that a smaller shipper can, but 
I would do it just as nearly as I could, 
anyway, or sell off a part of the grove 
and get the same or a little better income 
by giving more care to the balance. 
From the drying rack they go into the 
drying crates. These in my packing 
house, are made five by six feet and set 
on a bearing that allows of tipping to 
run the fruit tO' either end. The oranges 
are never two deep when curing. I do 
not intendl to ship in less than forty-eight 
hours after my fruit is picked; a little 
longer is just as good. By that time in¬ 
jured fruit shows up and is culled out 
more easily and surely. 
Report of the Committee on Fertilizer and Irrigation. 
By £• S« Hubbard^ Chairman* 
Mr. President^ Ladies and Gentlemen: 
In considering the question of fertil¬ 
izers I shall pass by the question of 
sources and percentages of the necessary 
elements, and devote my time to some 
of the problems of application and effects. 
An immense amount of valuable and often 
contradictory facts can be gathered on 
these questions, and it seems almost im¬ 
possible to draw any exact conclusion on 
the subject, except that each individual 
user of fertilizers should strive to use 
the formula or mixture that will give 
the best average results under the varying 
climatic conditions his crop and soil are 
subject tO'. It is needless tO' say that the 
past winter has been the driest in the 
memory of the oldest inhabitants, and I 
will use the Irish potato crop grown in 
my vicinity for a few illustrations. 
It has been demonstrated that the 
grasses transpire through their foliage 
between 500 and 600 times their dry 
weight of water in making their growth, 
and I estimate that Irish potatoes use 
