46 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
fruit is arriving in bad order, how quick¬ 
ly buyers turn to some other source of 
supply. 
We are all, to a considerable extent, de¬ 
pendent on each other for the popularity 
of our fruit, and in this connection there 
is one question I would ask you to con¬ 
sider : Whether the reputation of Florida 
citrus fruits has not suffered from the 
practice of selling on the tree, leaving the 
picking and packing as well as marketing 
to parties who have an interest only in 
the selling of that particular crop and not 
in the reputation of the fruit in a general 
way and which is dependent on careful 
selection as to maturity and proper hand¬ 
ling generally. Is not the manner in which 
much of our fruit is handled by buyers 
seriously detrimental to us? Having no 
further interest than getting results from 
that one crop, depending on the incident 
of good weather to delay decay which will 
ultimately result from careless handling, 
perhaps deferring it till the fruit has 
gone into the hands of the retailer, who 
suffers in consequence and then makes us 
suffer later. 
Is it not a fact that this practice has 
a very far reaching effect on the reputa¬ 
tion and popularity of our citrus fruits? 
