1 Noy., 1902. } QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 337 
is rigid, it has no flexibility ; if pressed out of shape its tissues are ruptured, 
and it is ruined. Its skin is brash, the cells are distended with juice, the 
slightest bruise or scratch ruptures them and decay sets in. 
Sorting —Some prefer to sort in the grove. As the fruit is lifted from 
the picking baskets into the boxes, they sort and believe it to be better than 
sorting in the fruit-house. Careless pickers can be corrected at once, and 
when the fruit is taken into the house it can be piled as to its quality, and sized 
as one wishes—fancy, bright, or russet. Another good reason is that much 
less bin room is required, as one needs bins for only one quality at a time. 
Curing.—Fruit should be taken to the packing-house and allowed to remain 
in the boxes ina cool, dry room until it slightly wilts—until evaporation renders 
the fruit flexible and its peel pliant; this usually requires two or three days, 
and in moist weather even a week. ‘There are advanced growers, however, who 
claim that by the exclusive use of pure chemicals as fertilisers, they grow 
oranges with such a tough elastic peel that they can pack the oranges without 
injury directly from the trees. When properly dried or wilted the fruit can 
be pressed into the boxes so close and tight that it will be immovable, without 
injury, and will not afterwards shrink. Oranges do not “sweat”; the moisture 
which evaporates from them is inyisible and imperceptible. ‘The moisture 
which appears on the fruit after a cool night is condensed vapour, the same as 
drops of moisture on an ice pitcher. This often interferes with wrapping and 
packing, and it may be prevented by keeping up the temperature of the room or 
spreading the fruit out thin so that their temperature will remain the same as 
that of the room. 
Cleaning.—If the fruit is scaly, sooty, or dirty, it will pay to washit. A 
shipper, whose fruit has attracted a great deal of attention by reason of its 
beautiful appearance, recommends the following plan of washing, which he 
follows :—‘‘ We use a kerosene barrel, hung like a grindstone, with a little door 
on the side, 6x 10 inches, on hinges, kept shut by hasp or button. Put in 
about three pecks of cypress sawdust (pine sticks into the fruit) and fill the 
barrel two-thirds with water, then put in two boxes of oranges, and turn ‘thirty 
to sixty times; take out and dry. When people use barrels first they use little 
water and lots of sawdust, and hurt the fruit; but by using lots of water and 
little sawdust you will need to turn more times, but will not hurt the fruit. 
We do our washing on our wharf, where we have lots of water, and a place 
where we can expose the fruit to the sun and air to dry. After taking out of 
barrel, you will need to throw on some water to wash off what little sawdust 
may stick to the oranges. You will need to put in some more sawdust every 
little while, and always keep some wet in a pail, to put in when needed, as it 
does not work well until wet up. Jf the fruit is nearly all in condition to be 
improved by going through the barrel, we let it go; but, as we don’t think it is 
any real benefit to it to have it run through, we are governed by condition of fruit. 
The best gearing I have seen is a regular grindstone gearing, having the shaft 
rest on two little wheels. 
Grading.—If thé sorting has been done as the fruit comes from the trees 
when it is ready for handling, separate the russets from the brights, discarding 
all imperfect and damaged fruit. Hach is then separated into two grades. 
The smooth-skinned, unblemished, bright fruits are hereafter known as fancy, 
and go to market with this plainly marked on the box. The rest of the bright 
oranges go as simple brights. The dark fruit is divided into two grades, the 
lighter, called golden russets. Drops, culls, scaly and coarse “calico” fruit, 
if shipped at all—it should not go out of the country—should be packed by 
itself, and its quality marked honestly on the box, but not the owner’s name. 
Tt seldom pays to ship this inferior fruit; it merely serves to depress the 
market. Oreased fruit is a different matter; it is usnally of a superior 
“quality, and if not held too late, and carefully handled, it will bring good 
values. The fruit should be graded before being sized, though one grade may 
be sized as it is handled for the purpose. 
