52 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
when it was raining; always when it was 
dry, and when it was dry weather at 
Micanopy it was maybe raining at Ocala 
or Gainesville, so they could not gather 
them there, and we would have an open 
market for the Micanopy fruit. 
Then the barrels were carried into the 
groves and little holes were jabbed out 
for ventilation, and we put the oranges 
in those barrels absolutely dry; those 
small pores even were dry, and we put 
them in the barrels, without sizing, of 
course, for we knew nothing about siz¬ 
ing, either, in those days, and shipped 
them all from the size of a hickory nut 
on up. We hauled the fruit into town 
in a wagon without springs, and got a 
pretty fair price, too. 
I merely want to emphasize the point 
that the fruit left our groves absolutely 
dry, in good condition; it carried well, 
and sold at satisfactory prices. I firmly 
believe, sir, the main point in the ship¬ 
ping fruit question is to see that it is dry. 
I have always had my doubts about the 
benefits of wrapping the fruit, for I 
should think it would prevent the con¬ 
tact of air with the surface of the or¬ 
ange. . • ! 
Mr. H. B. Stevens: I want to empha¬ 
size the point of handling fruit under 
the check system. We keep a check on 
it from the time it is gathered until it 
gets in the car. I find it well for each 
man to lose his identity and be known 
by a number. A record is kept of each 
man’s faults, not known except by num¬ 
ber, by the men who have charge of the 
picking, and if it escapes them it comes 
to the carrier wagon, which can carry 
thirteen boxes without putting one box 
on top of another. It comes to the wash¬ 
er, and if he sees anything wrong he im¬ 
mediately marks the number on the box. 
A copy of the list is kept for me. The 
next morning I take this list and look it 
over. I don't know who the man is, but 
there is the full record: “Number So- 
and-So has picked so many hours, so 
many boxes, so many complaints lodged 
against him.” If his faults are bad and 
he cannot or will not correct them, we 
tell him he must look for another job. If 
the complaints grow less I commend the 
men for it before the whole crew, and 
they very much appreciate the compli¬ 
ment. 
We pay by the day—not by the box. 
This year we have not shipped a sin¬ 
gle car under ice, and we have not strip¬ 
ped a single car, although I do not object 
to it, but I so loaded my car that it can 
be thoroughly ventilated. It is loaded so 
that the heated air which rises to the top 
is carried off by the motion of the train. 
We have had complaints about one or 
two cars which showed a little decay. 
Up to January ist, we had only one 
refrigerator car. We could not get re¬ 
frigerator cars. After January ist we 
had the common refrigerator and, as I 
say, we have had but little complaint the 
whole season through. 
Mr. Pierce: Fifty years ago, when I 
was a young man, the orange crop in 
Polk County had to be hauled to Tampa 
by team, sometimes as much as forty- 
five miles. We could not get empty 
barrels in those times, and so we would 
use pine straw, if we could not get hay, 
