Packing and Shipping Citrus Fruits 
S. F. Poole 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
I do not know why our President land¬ 
ed on me for this paper, not being a pack¬ 
ing house man, unless he wanted a filler 
for the program. I can assure all of you 
that you will not be detained very long. 
Anything of interest or new to the sub¬ 
ject will be left to my colleagues on this 
committee. 
I debated for a long time what to say 
on this subject and finally decided to pre¬ 
sent some of the aims and problems of 
the packing house in the Winter Haven 
district. 
One factor that has undoubtedly con¬ 
tributed to the successful carriage of our 
fruit to market is our light thin soil. Such 
a soil produces a firm juicy fruit with a 
naturally tough rind. Yet in spite of our 
natural advantages, at all stages in 
the packing of the fruit the great¬ 
est care is exercised to prevent in¬ 
jury. At no time does the bare hand 
touch the fruit. All sharp corners on 
boxes, receptacles or carriers, are round¬ 
ed off or padded to prevent injuries to 
the rind. The houses are kept clean. 
No trash or spoiled fruit is allowed to 
accumulate for the fewer are the chances 
to breed decay spores, the less will be the 
danger of infection. Extreme care and 
vigilance all along the line have been taken 
by the two best equipped houses, the Win¬ 
ter Haven and Florence Villa, to demon¬ 
strate to the fruit buying world that our 
brands can be placed on the market and 
sold with practically no decay. The aver¬ 
age decay being only a small fraction of 
one per cent. The pickers are provided 
with sacks into which the fruit is careful¬ 
ly placed. When filled, the sack is low¬ 
ered into the field boxes before bottom of 
sack is unhooked. Every orange must be 
clipped close and square across; the clip¬ 
per used is the Tuttle clipper. The pick¬ 
ers are subjected to a triple inspection. 
First, a constant one by the foreman, 
second, a frequent one by an inspector, 
and third by the owner or manager. The 
picker is furnished with number tags. As 
fast as a picker fills the box, he sticks a 
tag showing his number, under the metal 
of the strap. Whenever a box of fruit 
is inspected in the field, it is then pos¬ 
sible to find out what picker may need 
attention. Too much stress cannot be laid 
upon good picking for we all know poor 
clipping will spoil the first-class packing. 
All fruit is picked by the box. The boxes 
are of the usual type with straight par¬ 
tition and hold about two thirds of a 
packed crate. These crates are easier to 
handle and are consequently not so apt 
to be slammed around. The filled crates 
are loaded on to wagons furnished with 
bolster springs. These springs are tested 
to three thousand pounds capacity. Two 
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