FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
43 
er will do so himself, but do not many of 
our growers who sell their fruit on the 
trees, know that this will be done ? 
In the present condition of orange 
growing it is, perhaps, unavoidable that 
we should have oranges of several degress 
of excellence—good, bad and indifferent. 
The uniform influence of this society 
ought to be earnestly directed to educate 
the northern jobber to discriminate be¬ 
tween the varieties; and the degree of 
maturity at the different seasons; so that 
equal quality from any section of the 
State will command uniform prices. Per¬ 
haps, in time, this may be, to some extent, 
regulated by the shippers being compelled 
to ship the lowest grades of fruit in bulk, 
as the continued advance of box material 
will soon make it much cheaper to- pre¬ 
pare cars for bulk shipment than to pack 
them in costlier boxes. 
In my opinion the shipping of our fruit 
can be much facilitated, and more advan¬ 
tageously distributed, by selling F. O. B. 
Fruit will then move only on demand, 
and the section that can most quickly and 
Cheaply supply the desired quality; will, 
most likely, get the order. Consignment 
to unknown markets ought to be discour¬ 
aged ; as fruit so consigned, always comes 
in direct competition with purchased 
fruit; to the injury of bona fide buyers. 
It is quite certain that the great majority 
of responsible solicitors wou.ld prefer to 
become F. O. B. buyers, if selling were 
more general, and the grades made per¬ 
fectly reliable. In time all the best grades 
would be sold at the packing house, and 
only the inferior grades—from poor 
handling—‘would go forward on consign¬ 
ment. 
In conclusion, I want to urge the im¬ 
portance of neatness and scrupulous sani¬ 
tation in every department. Clean hands, 
clean picking boxes; bright, well seasoned 
packing boxes—clean, sanitary cars for 
carrying the fruit to market—for it is a 
commercial fact, that if you please the 
eye you touch the pocket book. 
“So mote it be.” 
By S. C. Warner. 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
At the last meeting of this society we 
had reports from your committee on the 
subject before us that were extremely 
valuable and I can add but little to their 
suggestions. Permit me, however, to 
quote from a recent article by one who is 
an authority: 
“Harvesting—This is one of the most 
absorbing subjects of the day and de¬ 
mands the most thorough and careful in¬ 
vestigation and thought, followed by the 
most energetic action upon the part of 
every one engaged in the fruit industry. 
Our careless handling is costing the state 
thousands, yea, hundreds of thousands of 
dollars every year. I make the assertion 
that fully 90 per cent of the Florida fruit 
that arrives in market in bad order is at¬ 
tributed to careless clipping and careless 
handling. 
“All of us flatter ourselves that we are 
taking extra pains and doing better than 
our neighbors and if our fruit does not 
