FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
39 
for two weeks after reaching the market 
with surprisingly little decay. 
I should like to spend more time on 
this subject to-night but we want to take 
a long trip and study some modern meth¬ 
ods and modern machines used in pack¬ 
ing oranges. The pictures which you will 
see will not all represent ideas which you 
as orange growers of Florida can incor¬ 
porate into your business, but where this 
is true, you may find some suggestions 
which under changed conditions will be 
of service to you. 
(Following Prof. Tenny illustrated the 
different packing houses in California 
with stereopticon views which were very 
interesting and we regret we cannot show 
the pictures here.—Secretary.) 
DISCUSSION. 
Mr. Tenny—A statement made this 
afternoon was slightly misleading. At 
this time of the year you would see noth¬ 
ing but clean culture but lately there has 
been a tremendous tendency to allow the 
grove to become covered, and uncultivated 
the greater part of the year. 
Just now, at the beginning of your 
rainy season it is just finishing the rainy 
season in California. The land should all 
be cultivated at the present time. There 
is thorough cultivation with irrigation 
possibly once a month during the entire 
summer period while there is no rain 
whatever. It would not be surprising if 
they did not have a drop of rain for the 
next three or four months. They irri¬ 
gate very heavily when necessary and 
as soon as it is possible to harrow 
they do so and keep this ground for about 
six or eight weeks, thoroughly pulverized. 
This is continued until usually about Sep¬ 
tember; possibly October. The rains are 
beginning then but only slightly, and be¬ 
fore the rains really start in they get the 
ground in proper shape and put on a cover 
crop, mostly the velvet bean and other 
things of that kind. They come up and 
grow rather rapidly during October, No¬ 
vember and December. Then it depends 
largely on the personality of the grower, 
but usually before the ist of February 
the ground is plowed and from that time 
it is clean cultivated. 
The wet season with them happens to 
be in the winter time; in your case it is 
the summer time. They plow rather 
deeply and cultivate deeply; six or eight 
inches. 
Mr. Kilgore—-How deep is their soil? 
Very deep? 
Mr. Tenny—Very deep; 200 or 300 
feet. It is made from the wash from the 
mountains, then hard pan and sub-soil in 
places that are hard. 
I agree thoroughly with what Mr. 
Hart stated this afternoon. From his 
standpoint and from the standpoint of a 
few packers in Florida the methods that 
are pursued in California look rather 
rough. They handle an immense amount 
of business, however, and it is impossible 
to give it the same time and attention 
that a small packer can give his fruit, if 
he will. And their orange will stand 
more than the Florida orange will. But 
as an average, I think Mr Hart will agree 
with me, their methods are more careful 
than the average methods in use in Flori¬ 
da. Of course, Mr. Hart’s methods as 
well as a very few others in Florida, are 
more careful than many in California. 
