FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
73 
two feet into the picking bag and then 
for an equal distance into the box, than 
would be if it were possible to lay the or¬ 
anges carefully into the bag and box. 
A long haul over a rough road with a 
considerable number of oranges with long 
stems in boxes will do plenty of damage. 
It is not necessary to have much shaking 
of the fruit in the box in order to do 
puncturing, for the field crate used almost 
universally in Florida is so large that the 
weight of the fruit in the box is sufficient 
to force a sharp stem through the peel¬ 
ing of an adjacent orange near the bot¬ 
tom of the crate. 
The number of long stems left by dif¬ 
ferent pickers varies largely. Some pick¬ 
ers work steadily without leaving scarcely 
a long stem. Others cut practically all 
the stems too long. The following fig¬ 
ures show the percentages left by differ¬ 
ent individuals. 5.9 per cent., 14 per cent., 
18.8 per cent., 8.7 per cent., 15 per 
cent., 7 per cent., 14.1 per cent., 0.7 per 
cent., and none. The following are av¬ 
erages for gangs: 2.9 per cent., 2.3 per 
cent., 16.1 per cent., 1 per cent., 9.7 per 
cent. 
As in the case with the clipper cutting, 
when the attention of the picker is called 
to the number of long stems he is leaving 
and when he knows his fruit is being 
inspected the number cut incorrectly gen¬ 
erally decreases 
CAREFUL HANDLING. 
The third point in connection with 
good picking has to do with careful 
handling. There is nothing in connec¬ 
tion with the citrus business of Florida 
that impresses a person accustomed to 
handling different fruits than the rough¬ 
ness with which the oranges are treated. 
To see the fruit dropped several feet into 
the picking bag or basket as the laborer 
holds the branches with his left hand and 
clips the fruit with his right, starting it 
toward the mouth of the basket at a lively 
speed with his clipper, one would think 
an imperishable product was being 
handled instead of a very delicate living 
fruit. When the picking basket is full, 
the fruit takes another severe fall into 
the field crate, and the usual method of 
locating the gang in the orchard is to lis¬ 
ten a moment for the rattle of the or¬ 
anges in the box. I need not call your at¬ 
tention to all the places in harvesting and 
packing the crop where rough handling is 
practiced. If anyone doubts the state¬ 
ment that a large percentage of the fruit 
falls somewhere at least 18 or 20 inches, 
a trip with this in mind through his own 
grove and packing house will probably 
satisfy him about the matter. At least 
such a trip through his neighbor’s grove 
will convince him. On his journey let 
him stop for a moment at the side of the 
hopper, one of those real large ones, 
holding fifty boxes or more, and watch 
the results. Let him place his hand on 
one of the fruit, and allow the other or¬ 
anges to hit against it. Just then have 
him forget that he is watching oranges 
and imagine that they are apples or per¬ 
haps Georgia peaches. I wonder how 
successful a shipper of such fruits would 
be if the handling was as rough as that 
to which the oranges are subjected. Yet 
the experiments last year indicated that 
with oranges dropped once 18 inches one 
out of every five would rot within a 
short time. This year the skin of the 
fruit seemed rather thicker and tougher 
and but ten per cent, rotted. But in test 
after test where the oranges were 
dropped 18 inches decay developed where 
it did not where the fruit was carefully 
