FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
195 
be suggested, such as color of rind, color 
of pulp, appearance of seed, taste, etc., 
or even a combination of all, could never 
be practically applied with any justice, 
by different inspectors in different locali¬ 
ties, on account of the differences be¬ 
tween man and man and the impossibil¬ 
ity of preparing concrete standards to 
which the different oranges could be com¬ 
pared. 
A careful examination of the facts in 
this study will show the injustice of set¬ 
ting a definite date on which to begin 
shipping, or... even a different date for 
each variety. 
While there are a few well defined 
varieties, the large majority of oranges 
in Florida vary from each other by such 
minute physical differences that it would 
be impossible to differentiate between va¬ 
rieties, particularly after the oranges 
were removed from the trees. 
It is evident that for scientific accu¬ 
racy and ease of practical application, the 
chemical standard should be as simple 
as possible. While the ratio of acid to 
sugar can be so fixed that oranges that 
are evidently immature will fall on one 
side, and those evidently mature will fall 
on the other side, it is as accurate, if not 
more so, and much easier to fix a per¬ 
centage of acid that will divide those ev¬ 
idently mature and immature into two 
classes. Of course, whatever standard, 
chemical or otherwise, is used, there will 
always be cases where the question of 
maturity will have to be left to the stand¬ 
ard, rather than to the senses. It is our 
conclusion that a standard of 1.25 per 
cent, of total acid is scientifically accu¬ 
rate, fair and just to the producer and 
consumer alike, and of the greatest ease 
of practical application to the orange in¬ 
dustry. 
While oranges that contain not more 
than 1.30 per cent, of total acid will va¬ 
ry from sweet to rather tart in taste, and 
probably will have a greater variation in 
flavor and taste than those with a greater 
ratio of acid to sugar than 1. to 7, they 
will always be edible and desirable fruit. 
Of course, there is occasionally freak 
fruit that would pass any standard adopt¬ 
ed and still be inedible and undesirable 
fruit, but such cases call for the applica¬ 
tion of common sense with the standard. 
RECOMMENDATIONS. 
While it is not in the province of this 
study to recommend a law fixing the ma¬ 
turity of oranges, it is, however, the ob¬ 
ject to recommend a standard for or¬ 
anges to be embodied in whatever law 
Florida has, or will have, on the matu¬ 
rity of citrus fruit. It is also recom¬ 
mended that the method of obtaining a 
fair and accurate sample, the procedure 
of the field 'test, and laboratory method 
for the determination of acid should be 
made a part of the law, in order that uni¬ 
form methods, terms, and definitions, be 
used in all cases for the enforcement of 
the law, by officers charged with the ex¬ 
ecution of the law. 
STANDARD. 
The standard recommended is: 
Orange, sivect orange, is the ripe, ma¬ 
ture fruit of Citrus aurantium L., the 
juice of which contains not more than 
