86 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
keeping quality. This is the work of a 
scientist. 
Second: To produce the most pleas¬ 
ing impression on the customer, which 
calls for the genius of an artist. 
To secure keeping quality, mechanical 
injury to the tender cells of the rind 
should be avoided. The less handling 
and the shorter time from tree to box 
the better. Work here begins with gath¬ 
ering from the trees. In this process fre¬ 
quently the greatest injury is done to the 
fruit. A good foreman, who can secure 
largest amount of careful work from 
pickers is of prime importance. Much 
also depends on equipment as well as 
careful workmen. All clippers should have 
rounded points, curving slightly from the 
fruit. This reduces danger of clipper 
cuts or long stems. One long stem will 
injure every orange with which it comes 
in contact. Hence may do ten times more 
damage than a clipper cut. 
Sacks opening at bottom are preferable 
for picking low budded trees. But in 
case of tall seedling trees where long lad¬ 
ders are necessary, baskets are better, as 
the fruit is not so easily bruised. Each 
fruit should be held in one hand while 
the stem is clipped, then placed, not drop¬ 
ped, or thrown in the basket or bag. 
If roads are rough, fruit should be 
hauled to the packing house in spring 
wagons, and in all cases protected from 
sun, dust or rain by canvas covers. 
After fruit reaches the packing house, 
if smutty or dusty it should be washed 
and dried by artificial blast of warm air, 
after which it should be graded from 
grading belts, into at least four grades, 
five would be better. Bright, Fancy 
Bright, Russet, Golden Russet and sec¬ 
onds. In some crops it is not advisable 
to make more than one grade of russets. 
There are a number of good systems of 
packing house equipment. That which 
handles the fruit with least friction or 
dropping is to be desired. 
A word as to packages. The trade al¬ 
most universally demand bulge pack. The 
fruit should be placed in the boxes to 
fit close, slightly higher in middle than at 
ends, so that no severe pressure shall be 
necessary in order to nail down ends of 
cover. 
There seems to be a tendency with 
some Florida packers to imitate foreign 
packages. The writer has found it pays 
to stick to the old standard Florida box 
with birch hoops. They may look some¬ 
what rustic, but when neatly made, with 
an attractive brand, the birch hoop, Flo¬ 
rida box, like its contents, is in a class 
alone, and is immediately recognized as 
the Florida product. The best in the 
world. 
F. D. Waite 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
I have been placed on a committee 
to report on packing and shipping fruit. 
Before attempting this report I find that 
the ground has been most thoroughly 
covered in the past six or seven years by 
several government experts. In a meet¬ 
ing in 1907 Mr. Tenney gave his experi¬ 
ences in handling citrus fruits from the 
tree to the car, and the results of his ex¬ 
periments have been found practical and 
effectual in every detail. 
