FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
51 
These results are brought about by loss 
of damaged fruit caused by putting too 
many oranges, or too large oranges, m 
too small a space and them subjecting 
the box to outside pressure from other 
freight, both in the railway car and on 
the transfer trucks. 
SIZE OF ORANGE BOX. 
What size should an orange box be? 
The size should be regulated by economy 
for the grower and availability (to the 
consumer. The packing will be most eco¬ 
nomically done by having a box large 
enough and not too large for one man 
to handle and lift without other aid than 
his own physical strength, and large 
enough to keep a man of ordinary 
strength in good exercise, thus handling 
a good many oranges at one time and at 
the same time keeping up a high degree of 
manhood amongst the orange fraternity. 
The size of the box from the seller's 
point of view should be that which is most 
available to dispose of in the market. 
The present size of the box, viz.: I2xi2x 
24 inches, would seem to be large enough 
and not too large for one man to handle ; 
and if the commission merchants do not 
complain of the size as being awkward to 
dispose of, I do not think we should 
change. We should pay no attention 
whatever to any size of box that some 
other orange section may produce, know¬ 
ing fully well that the orange buyers will 
pay just so much, that the fruit will bring 
them a profit and that their price will be 
regulated by their ability to make their 
profit out of the contents of the box. 
The unit of economy in the size of the 
box is that it should be large enough to 
tax the strength of an ordinary man, and 
not larger, and if the present size of the 
box fulfils this condition, any other size 
would make the cost of handling greater, 
which extra cost would have to to be paid 
by the grower when the fruit was in 
abundance and low in price, and by the 
consumer when the fruit is scarce and 
high and always means money paid to the 
middleman either by the producer or con¬ 
sumer. 
Some sections may find it advisable to 
have a very small box, as possibly not 
much of their fruit is wanted; but if 
Florida fruit is classed as being equal to 
the best, let us send it out in abundance, 
and not try to restrict our output by 
contracting the size of our box. 
DISCUSSION. 
Mr. Hart—Now, there is a great 
deal of difference in white papers. 
Some white papers will give you the 
proper color. The mandarine orange 
is of much better quality than the tan¬ 
gerine, but the latter brings nearly 
double the price of the other. The 
Japanese paper does not give that 
pretty tint and it is so transparent that 
it shows up the blemishes badly, but 
it is tough and does not break or tear 
easily. I also think the print is of much 
importance. Your private b r a 11 d 
should not be too large. I have seen 
some so large that on a 200 orange you 
could only see some confused printing 
in the middle. A good print can be 
made small, yet plenty large and plain 
enough to show the whole of it on a 
200 orange. 
Before the fruit goes into the washer 
the thumb, finger or the eye comes in 
contact with every calyx, and if any 
stem is left on them they are carefully 
clipped off. It would be almost im- 
