FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
09 
The first grade to be an orange that is 
thin-skinned, heavy, full of juice, perfect¬ 
ly matured, and an orange that you can 
be absolutely proud of—in reality an 
Extra Fancy. 
Your second grade to be exactly the 
same kind of an orange, except that the 
skin may be imperfect in color, but in all 
other respects to be equal to your first 
grade 
The third grade shall be perfectly 
sound, sweety juicy, but the skin may be 
rough or thick, scarred, or the orange ill¬ 
shaped and blemished to almost any ex¬ 
tent, either in color or texture. 
Your fourth grade to be an orange 
whose only redeeming feature is that it 
will carry sound to destination. 
Another thing, I am convinced that it 
is a mistake to put these grades under 
different brands—it is far better to use 
the same brand all the way through, and 
designate your different grades by dif¬ 
ferent colors—for instance, in the Winter 
Park house we have abandoned the use 
of the Angel, Bull Dog and Camel 
brands, using the “Three Feathers’’ trade 
mark for all of our grades. Our first 
grade is known as the “Blue Feathers,” 
the second grade as the “Red Feathers,” 
the third grade as the “Green Feathers,” 
and the fourth grade as the “Black Feath¬ 
ers.” 
The trade mark and lettering is exactly 
the same in the brand on all of these 
grades, and the printed wrap is the same 
on all of them, but the printing on the 
heads of the boxes is of a color corres¬ 
ponding to the grade of fruit inside, and 
the trade almost immediately learns to 
distinguish and remember this difference, 
and buys accordingly. 
If the orange growers all over Flor¬ 
ida would establish this classification by 
color in grades (and many of them are 
already doing it, as it was not original 
with us) it would help a great deal in the 
general markets by enabling the buyers 
to distinguish immediately by the color 
just what grade he was buying. 
But, to return to our packing-house 
work— 
Each grader is taught to look for two 
kinds of fruit only, one being the particu¬ 
lar grade which he is selecting, and the 
other a cull. Every one in the house, 
from the receiving room to the packer, is 
taught to look for culls. There is painted 
very prominently a sign, “Every Doubt¬ 
ful Orange is a Cull.” 
Directly in front of the graders, and 
beyond the grading belt is the “grade 
belt,” corresponding to the grade for that 
section of the belt, while another belt 
leads outside the building on which are 
placed the culls. The number of graders 
will vary with the speed at which the 
fruit is running through the house. In 
general practice it requires about two 
graders for each car of fruit being packed 
per day. If a grader is grading for, say 
the “Red Feathers” brand, his eyes are 
steadily fixed on the fruit approaching 
him, and when he sees an orange that fits 
his grade he removes it from the grading 
belt, with a white gloved hand, and places 
it on the belt leading to the sizing 
machine, at which that grade is being- 
packed. He pays no attention to any 
other grades, such as the “Blue Feath¬ 
ers,” or “Green Feathers,” or any other 
but is looking only for his grade and for 
culls. If he sees a cull he picks it from 
the grading belt and puts it on the cull 
