FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
87 
For the benefit of new members I will 
state a few points that I think worth re¬ 
membering : 
In picking fruit we try to carry out Mr. 
Tenney’s instructions especially to avoid 
rough handling, and by using the Tuttle 
clipper which we think superior to all 
others (as with it it is almost impossible 
to clipper-cut the fruit) and when a pick¬ 
er has confidence in the clipper he is us¬ 
ing he will hold it nearer the fruit, there¬ 
by avoiding the cutting of long stems, 
which is so injurious to other fruit when 
passing through the different machines. 
We never use anything but the canvas- 
lined willow baskets, which I think are 
now recognized as the safest to use. 
A great many have felt that in wash¬ 
ing fruit they were starting it on the 
road to decay. We have been washing 
fruit by machinery for thirteen years, and 
only in exceptionally bad weather have 
we been troubled with decay; and I think 
it has been an acknowledged fact that 
when we have foggy, rainy, hot weather 
it is better to shut down the packing 
house and wait for cooler and dryer 
weather—or, if the crop must be moved, 
it should be shipped under ice. We find 
that half tank cars of ice are sufficient. 
When equipping our packing house two 
years ago we tried to eliminate all chance 
of fruit being bruised by falling onto 
other fruit or into the packing bins. In 
putting in equipment the best is the cheap¬ 
est, and I think it should be constructed 
so that the fruit can be automatically 
dumped on the roller conveyer and travel 
on a level through the washing machine, 
drip rack, dry boxes, roller grader and 
sizing machines to the packing bins. 
There is such a diversified opinion in 
grading fruit that I am loth to say very 
much on the subject. I have been in 
packing houses where they used color to 
represent different grades, and those 
grades were made irrespective of whether 
fruit was bright, golden or russet, being 
graded more as to texture of peel than 
to color of fruit. I think this is a mis¬ 
take—the fruit should be graded bright, 
golden and russet, and we have one other 
brand which we use for the scarred or 
ill-shaped fruit. 
We believe in a good, swell pack, each 
layer packed firmly and the sooner the 
fruit is packed and shipped after it is 
picked the better the condition will be on 
arrival. We use refrigerator cars with 
vents open, which gives the best circula¬ 
tion of air. 
I don’t know that I have said anything 
in this report that has not already been 
explained to the Society, but there may 
be new members here today who have not 
had the advantage of attending former 
meetings, or an opportunity of reading 
the reports of the meetings. 
W. Walton O’Hara 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
If I speak in a loud tone of voice, louder 
than seems necessary to those in the front, 
it is because I discovered when sitting in 
the rear that it was impossible to distin¬ 
guish a word that was said by the speak¬ 
ers this morning. 
This privilege accorded me here on this 
floor I deeply appreciate, and thank this 
