40 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
When we first started out in Califor¬ 
nia, in many places we found the fruit 
was elevated and allowed to run down by 
gravity through the various machines. 
This made a tremendous amount of 
rough handling. The first thought that 
presented itself to Mr. Powell and my¬ 
self was that this probably had some¬ 
thing to do with the decay. We took up 
the dropping experiments and got very 
excellent results. When we came to Flo¬ 
rida, for the moment I did not begin work 
on dropping oranges. I began to look 
for clipper cuts and found comparative¬ 
ly few, and long stems, but there were few 
of those. At the close of the first year 
we began dropping experiments and the 
results were startling. Sometimes we 
had as high as 70 per cent decay where 
oranges were dropped 18 inches, while 
oranges not dropped showed only 3 or 4 
per cent decay at the end of two weeks. 
We find there is a great deal of dif¬ 
ference shown in the effects of dropping 
on oranges. Some oranges will st? id 
a considerable amount of dropping 
while others are much more susceptible. 
It may be due to the fertilizer, climatic 
conditions; I don’t know just what it is. 
They may have a thin skin or a thick 
skin, but it is a fact that some will go to 
pieces almost immediately, while others 
will not show the effects for a much 
longer time. 
By E. H. Mote. 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 
In discussing this subject, I wish to re¬ 
fer to some of the problems that must be 
solved before we begin to pack the citrus 
fruits, I once heard a clergyman, 'who 
was debating the subject: “How to Read 
the Bible,” begin his oration by saying: 
“You must first have a Bible to read.” He 
■had bibles to sell. We are fruit growers 
—and I wish to emphasize the fact that 
we must first grow the right kind of fruit, 
before successful packing is possible. 
In our discussion of this question at the 
last meeting of this society, Mr. W. S. 
Hart began an excellent paper on this sub¬ 
ject by saying: “We must begin by 
proper cultivation, fertilizing, etc.” 
I would place the beginning further 
back than that. I would begin with the 
•selection of the proper locality, and the 
preparation of die soil, before a tree is 
planted, or cultivation and fertilizing be¬ 
gins. The question of drainage, manage¬ 
ment of subsoil, to insure the necessary 
circulation of air among the root system 
of the tree during the growing season is 
the surest foundation for successful culti¬ 
vation that will insure the production of 
a class of fruit that will have all the excel¬ 
lent qualities of pulp and rind necessary 
to successful packing of fruit that will 
carry well, and command a price at destin¬ 
ation. 
I recall a personal experience, some 
years ago, when I bought the fruit in two 
groves, aggregating some eleven thou¬ 
sand boxes, which broke down and began 
rotting before I could get it out of the 
packing house. One evening I left the cov¬ 
er off of fifty boxes, and found, next 
