B. r i 
 
 
 United Slates Department of Agriculture, 
 
 BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY— Circular No. 19. 
 
 B. T. GALLOWAY, Chief of Bu'eau. 
 
 THE DECA1 OF FLORIDA ORANGES Wl 
 
 ON THE MARKET 
 
 By I 1 1'iwk. Pomologist, assisted bj G. W . Hosford, 
 
 and II. M. Whiti - Assistant, Field Investigations 1 
 
 ILI-: l\ I'RANSITAX: 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Since the season of 1906 7 an investigation of the causes of 
 decay in oranges shipped from Florida has been carried on by the 
 Bureau of Planl Industry. Since 1904 a similar investigation has 
 been in progress in California, where it has been found that the decay 
 is caused principally l>\ improper methods of handling the fruit in 
 the groves and packing houses. The results of the California inves- 
 tigations have been published in Bulletin 123 of the Bureau of Plant 
 [ndustry, entitled "The Deca} of Oranges while in Transit from 
 California," l>\ G. Harold Powell, Pomologist in Charge of Fruit 
 Transportation and Storage Investigation-, and associates. 
 
 EXTENT OE LOSS FROM DECAY IN FLORIDA ORANGES. 
 
 During a cool, dry period many Florida oranges reach the market 
 
 in g I condition, but when the weather is warm and moist, cars of 
 
 fruit arrive showing sometimes as much as 30 per cent or more of 
 decay. A conservative estimate of the total loss from decay in 
 Florida oranges would be $500,000 annually. There is an even 
 greater injury to the reputation of Florida oranges because of the 
 Large amount of decaj that develops after the fruit reaches the hands 
 of the wholesale dealer or the retailer. Probably nothing has more 
 to do with the low price of Florida oranges at any time than the 
 fact that the buyers can not depend on the fruit keeping sufficiently 
 long to be retailed. 
 
 ummarizes certain phases of the experimental investigation 
 the handling of Florida oranges thai nave been under way during the last two seasons. 
 This work covers one feature of th< study of fruil marketing, transportation, 
 and -i thods thai has been in progress in our field investigations in pon 
 since the organization of this Bureau. While longer continuance of the Florida 
 work i before final conclu n be formulated, certain results obtained 
 Bignificanl and so consistent with the results of similar work in California 
 whi li I i.i- bei ii prosecuted for a much longer time that their economic importance is 
 believed to justify immediate publication. While numerous details of grove, packing- 
 house, and tnu m treatment require further attention, the fundamental 
 importance of the careful handling of thefmii dn rin":ill the harvesting and marketing 
 ions ie emphasized by the results of there e\|)eruu^t^^B 1 Fjri-|fi<u.Lo\vAY, 
 d Pathologist, a Bureau. | yVVVM^NT^Dpr 
 
 60249— Cir. 19— OS 
 
 U.S. DEPOSITORY 
 
2 DECAY OF FLORIDA ORANGES WHILE TN TRANSIT, ETC. 
 
 CAUSE OF DECAY IN ORANGES. 
 
 The common decay in oranges is caused by the growth of a minute 
 form of plant life within the tissue of the fruit. The most common 
 fungi causing orange decay are species of Penicillium. These fungi 
 are spread by spores which do not seem to have the power of entering 
 an orange having a normal uninjured skin. The first requisite for 
 decay, therefore, is a bruised or broken skin. Whenever such an 
 injury has occurred and the spores are present the fruit will decay if 
 the moisture and temperature conditions are favorable for the develop- 
 ment of the fungus. Like most other forms of plant life, these fungi 
 grow best in a warm, moist atmosphere. If the weather is cold or very 
 thy, even injured fruit on which the spores are present may not decay. 
 
 The experimental work has been planned with this understanding 
 of the cause of decay in mind. The work was divided into three gen- 
 eral lines, as follows: (1) A determination of the amount of injury in 
 the fruit caused by handling the oranges in the groves and packing 
 houses, the long stems left by the pickers in severing the fruit from the 
 branches being also counted, since the number of these determines to 
 some extent the amount of injury produced in the subsequent han- 
 dling of the fruit; (2) packing-house experiments in which fruit 
 handled in different ways was packed and held in the house for two 
 weeks, at the end of which time the percentage of decay in the differ- 
 ent lots was determined; and (3) shipping experiments and market 
 tests, in which the fruit handled under different conditions in the 
 groves and packing houses was shipped by the regular transportation 
 methods to Washington, D. C, and held there in a fruit-storage 
 room, the. decay being determined on arrival and at the end of each 
 succeeding week. 
 
 INJURIES AND LONG STEMS. 
 
 Punctures in the skin of the orange are the most common injury. 
 These are made with the clippers when the fruit is severed from the 
 branches. The amount of injury depends on the individual picker. 
 Many pickers do not injure more than one or two oranges in a hun- 
 dred; otherscul as many as 25 per cent. During the season of 1906-7 
 onhy a limited number of oranges were examined, hut of t hese .">.7 per 
 cent had been cut with the clippers and 6.7 percent had been injured 
 by other means, as by the branches of the trees through which they 
 had been pulled, by splinters from the field crates, by twigs or dirt in 
 the bottom of the boxes, or by cuts made with the linger nails of the 
 pickers or packers. About 7 per cent of the oranges had stems suffi- 
 ciently long to injure ot her fruit. 
 
 During the season of 1907 8 the percentage of injured fruit was 
 found to be even greater. The following table gives detailed informa- 
 tion as to the amount of injury and the number of long stems in 
 oranges picked by one gang of laborers: 
 
 [fir. L9] 
 
DE( U "l FLORIDA ORANGES WHILE IN [TRANSIT, ETC. 
 
 Table 1 Percentage of injured fruit ami fruit with long stems found in th 
 
 handled by eight pic) 
 
 \ 1 
 slgni 
 
 picker. 
 
 Injuries by 
 clipper cut- 
 ting. 
 
 r in- 
 juries. 
 
 Total injii- 
 Loiik stems, rles and 
 long stems. 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 Per i 
 
 0.8 
 8. 1 
 
 7.2 
 2. o 
 
 15. 9 
 
 r<r cent. 
 6. l 
 
 a 7 
 
 fir cm Peri 
 n. I 
 
 12.7 42.2 
 11. 1 24.4 
 25.0 
 
 42. I 
 vii 150 
 
 25 8 
 
 \ '. 
 
 til 
 
 9.6 
 
 
 Picker No. 8 had also pulled 16 per cent of the fruit from the trees 
 instead of cul ting it off. 
 
 The amount of injury in picking the orange is ool necessaril} con- 
 aected with the rapidity of the work done by the pickers. A .slow 
 picker ma\ injure as manj oranges as a rapid worker, and neither 
 ma\ know thai he is injuring the fruit with the clippers. The follow- 
 ing data regarding the work of a gang consisting of a picking foreman 
 and i bree picker- who were paid by the box illust rate this fact : 
 
 Table II. Percentagi ed < t and fruit with long stems found in tht urn 
 
 picked by slow and by rapid worh 
 
 Kind of worker. 
 
 Slow picker 
 
 ilcker 
 
 Fasl picker 
 
 Do 
 
 it..v elected from fruit In packing ] 
 
 Injuries I. y otherl _ 
 
 clipper cut- , ':, ' Longstems. 
 
 ting. 
 
 2i 4 
 
 11.0 
 
 10.7 
 
 13. 2 
 
 juries. 
 
 0.0 
 1.11 
 2.4 
 n. 3 
 
 !,. II 
 
 9 6 
 
 5.5 
 4.0 
 7.4 
 
 Total inju- 
 ries and 
 longstems. 
 
 I'ir a nt. 
 
 3a o 
 
 20. 5 
 
 17. 1 
 16.9 
 
 These tables shov the extenl of damage that may be done in 
 handling the fruit in the groves in Florida. 
 
 PACKING-HOUSE EXPERIMENTS. 
 
 Fruit handled in the following ways was packed and held two 
 week- in the packing houses in Florida and was then examined for 
 decay: (1) Carefully picked fruit, all injured oranges being taken 
 out and the fruit graded and sized by hand; (2) carefully picked 
 fruit, all injured oranges being taken out and the fruit graded and 
 sized by machinery in the usual way: (3) carefully picket! fruit, all 
 injured oranges being taken out and the fruit graded' and sized 1>\ 
 hand, but jusl previous to packing each orange was dropped L8 to 20 
 inches to the Boor or the bottom of a field crate; (4) fruit picked. 
 packed, and graded in the usual commercial waj ; (5) fruit consisting 
 of oranges showing some mechanical injury. 
 
 The experiment- which included these five methods of handling 
 fruit, the different kits for each experiment being .-elected from the 
 
 [fir. 19] 
 
4 DECAY OF FLORIDA ORANGES WHILE IN TRANSIT, ETC. 
 
 fruit of the same grove, were made in nine packing houses in different 
 localities in the orange section of the State during the season of 
 1907-8. In every experiment , the sound, carefully handled fruit that 
 was graded and sized by hand showed the least decay at the end of 
 two weeks. The decay in the fruit which was carefully picked but 
 graded by machinery varied much. In one experiment the carefully 
 handled fruit showed 1.1 per cent of decay, while a similar lot which 
 was handled by machinery contained 18.4 per cent of decay. In 
 another test where the hopper was unusually large and steep and the 
 machinery of the oldest type the decay was 36.7 percent. The average 
 loss for the season of 1907-8 for all fruit which passed through the ma- 
 chinery but was carefully handled in picking was 20.3 per cent, in 
 comparison with 2.1 per cent for similar lots graded and sized by hand. 
 
 The experiments in which the oranges were dropped were made 
 in order to determine what proportion of the decay was caused by 
 dropping the fruit into the picking basket or field crate, by dumping 
 it into the hopper, or by any fall which the fruit might have in being 
 delivered from the sizer to the bins. A distance of 18 to 20 inches 
 was selected for the drop, since it was possible to see large quan- 
 tities of fruit dropped that distance or farther in its commercial 
 handling. During the season of 1906-7, the decay from dropping 
 seemed to be greater than in 1907-8. The average loss for the first 
 season was 20.1 per cent, while for the past season it was 10 per cent. 
 
 The boxes designated "commercially packed oranges" were 
 selected from the packed boxes in the house as the cars were being 
 loaded, care being taken to select fruit from the groves from which 
 the other experimental boxes had been secured. The average decay 
 in 1006-7 for the commercially packed fruit was 22.9 per cent; in 
 1907-8 the loss was 18.2 per cent. 
 
 Each of the mechanically injured oranges was selected because it 
 showed some kind of a puncture or abrasion of the skin. The me- 
 chanically injured fruit after being packed for two weeks developed 
 48.7 per cent of decay in 1906-7; in 1907-8 the loss was 35.4 percent. 
 
 'I'lie following table summarizes the percentage of decay found for the 
 last two seasons in the fruit held for two weeks in the packinghouses: 
 
 Table III. — Average percentagi of decay in oranges handled in various ways and held 
 in packing houses for two weeks. 
 
 L906 7. Percent. 
 
 Sound oranges graded by hand 2. 9 
 
 ( (ranges dropped from is to 20 inches 20. I 
 
 I i immercially packed oranges 22. 9 
 
 Mechanically injured oranges 48. 7 
 
 1907 8. Percent. 
 
 Sound oranges mailed by hand - *-. 1 
 
 Sound oranges graded by machinery 20. 3 
 
 Oranges dropped from is to 20 inches 10. 
 
 ( iommercially packed oranges 18. 2 
 
 Mechanically injured oranges 35. 4 
 
 [Cir. 19] 
 
\Y OF FLORIDA ORANGES WHILE IN I RANSIT, ETC. 5 
 
 SHIPPING EXPERIMENTS AND MARKET TESTS. 
 
 During the season of L 907-8 fourteen shipments of oranges handled 
 in a wa\ similar to the oranges in the packing-house experiments 
 were shipped to Washington and there held under market conditions, 
 the amount of decay being determined on arrival and at the end of 
 each succeeding week. As the weather was cool during the shipping 
 season nearly all of the lots except the injured fruit reached Washing- 
 ton in fair condition. The sound fruit graded by hand showed the 
 least decay. At the end of the first week in storage, the sound, 
 carefully handled fruit remained in excellent condition, while all 
 other lots began to show considerable decay. The commercially 
 packed oranges, which contained less than I per cent of decaj on 
 arrival in Washington; developed more than 10 per cent at the end 
 n( one week. At the end of the second week, the carefully handled 
 fruit was --till in prime condition, with L5 per cent of loss, while all 
 the other lots were badly <\<-<-;r 
 
 The follow iie.' table gives a summary of the shipping experiments 
 of L907 8, the amount of decaj whenthefruit arrived in Washington 
 and at the end of the first and the second weeks in storage being 
 specified: 
 
 Table IV.—Percentagi of decay on arrival in Washington and after oiu week and 
 weeks in oranges handled in different nays. 
 
 Charai ter ol oranges shipped. 
 
 Decay after 
 
 arrival. 01 I 
 
 led bj hand 
 Sound orangi ■• machinery. . 
 
 rom 18 to 20 inches. 
 
 inges 
 
 Mechanically Injured oranges 
 
 Ptr cent. 
 l 
 1.1 
 
 20. 2 
 
 Fir ant. 
 1.9 
 
 5. 1 
 
 6. 
 10.6 
 
 two weeks. 
 
 rirant. 
 15 
 12, 4 
 10. 9 
 
 • 
 
 Table IV shows that the Florida orange has good keeping quality 
 when the handling has been sufficiently careful. On the other hand, 
 
 it is apparent that careless handling prepares the wa\ for decay, 
 
 either while the fruit is in transit or after it has reached the market . 
 
 The presenl methods of harvesting citrus fruits in many cases in 
 Florida are extremely rough, and a premium i> placed on the quantit} 
 rather than on the quality of work done. This is due to the class of 
 labor employed, to a de-ire on the part of the packer to reduce the cost 
 to the lowesl possible figure, and to a lack of knowledge of the value 
 of careful handling. 
 
 Table V shows thai it is possible, even with the presenl labor, to 
 lessen materially the amount of injury done in picking the fruit. The 
 oranges showing clipper cuttings or other injuries or bearing long 
 stems were counted on December I and 6, before am educational work 
 had been done among the picker-. In two weeks another examination 
 
 [Clr. 10] 
 
6 
 
 DECAY OF FLORIDA ORANGES WHILE IN TRANSIT, ETC. 
 
 of the fruit was made, and after ten days still another. Meantime, 
 each picker was shown how much damage was being done and was 
 told what effect this injury had upon the keeping quality of the fruit. 
 Within the three weeks specified the amount of clipper cutting was 
 reduced to one-seventh and the total injury and number of long stems 
 to less than one-fourth of the former amounts. 
 
 Fig. 1.— An interior view of a packing house in Florida, showing the large hopper used for delivering 
 
 oranges to the sizing machine. 
 
 'Table V. — Percentage oforangt s showing mechanical injuries and long stems pickt <l by the 
 same gang before and after instruction as to care in handling. 
 
 Date i r inspect ion. 
 
 Injury by 
 clipper 
 cutting. 
 
 Total in- 
 juries and 
 long steins. 
 
 l »ate of inspection. 
 
 Injury l>y 
 clipper 
 
 rutting. 
 
 Total in- 
 juries and 
 
 long stems. 
 
 
 Pir a ill 
 7.4 
 5. 6 
 
 Pi r ci nl. 
 18 
 22 
 
 I lecember 17' 
 
 P(X Ci lit 
 
 2.3 
 1.0 
 
 I, 
 
 
 |)e< ember 27'' 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 » Before instruction. 
 
 b Ulcr Inst! ' 
 
 There is much opportunity for Improvement in the handling of 
 the fruit in the packing houses also. The use of any kind of hopper 
 is a source of much injury oil account of the dumping of the fruit from 
 the held crate. The large hopper used extensively in Florida tends 
 to increase this injury. (See fig. 1.) It is probable that the hopper 
 can l>e eliminated entirely and the fruit delivered to the sizing machine 1 
 on carrying belts. Many such arrangements have been in operation in 
 
 [Cir. 10] 
 
M'.rW OF FLORIDA ORANGES WHILE IN TRANSIT, I t 
 
 California for the last two seasons and are giving excellent sal isfaction. 
 (See fig. 2.) 
 
 Many of the conditions in California in 1905, when the investigation 
 was undertaken there by the Bureau of Plant Industry, were much 
 like- those in Florida. During the course of the investigation, main 
 changes favoring more careful handling of the fruit, both in the groves 
 and in the packing houses, have been made. The following descrip- 
 
 2. Interior view <>i ;i packing house in California, showi ry used in preparing 
 
 ;es (or ship 
 
 tion given in the bulletin already referred to a shows what successful 
 re-ults have followed: 
 
 The fruit 
 under the last series*" was grown and packed l>v a corporation owning several 
 
 " Bulletin No. L23o£thi f Plant Industry, entitled "The Decay of Oi 
 
 while in Transit fro l 18 
 
 b Pen ■ lilions andshi\ 
 
 (*< r n nlilat I ' 
 
 shipment. 
 
 hipment 
 
 
 Fehruai 
 M 
 
 19] 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1.3 
 
 1.8 
 
 
 
 1.0 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2.7 
 
 1.7 
 
 
 
 
 
8 DECAY OF FLORIDA ORANGES WHILE IN TRANSIT, ETC. 
 
 hundred acres of groves and packing its own fruit. When the presenl investigation 
 of the Bureau of Plant Industry was undertaken in 1905, the fruit from this house 
 sometimes arrived in market showing from 5 to 30 per cent of decay. The handling 
 of the fruit was done with the average care used in preparing the fruit for market at 
 that time. An investigation showed that 20 to -'■> per cent of the oranges were cut with 
 the clippers or were stem punctured, and that the packing bouse, which was equipped 
 with overhead sizers, contributed to the further injury of the fruit. In 1906 and in 
 1907 the fruit was picked with care. The labor in the groves is paid by the day. It 
 is under the management of a competent foreman. As a rule the orange as cut from 
 the tree has a long stem, and a second cut removes the stem close to the fruit. The 
 pickers avern ire from 10 to 50 boxes a day, and the clipper cutting and stem puncturing 
 have been reduced to from 1 to 3 per cent. The loading and the hauling of the boxes 
 to the packing house are done with care. Gravel is kept out of the boxes and they are 
 not filled full enough to bruise the oranges on the top when the boxes are stacked. 
 The packing house is handled by a skillful foreman. The oranges are not brushed. 
 The machinery is of the simplest kind and is run at comparatively low speed. The 
 packing and the loading of the cars are done with care. The packers average from 
 50 to 60 boxes a day. The fruit has been shipped under ventilation until about two 
 months after most of the shipments from southern California have begun to be for- 
 warded under ice. 
 
 From the business standpoint this fruit took high rank in the market as soon as 
 careful handling methods were adopted in 1906, and it has held it ever since. In 
 addition to a good pack, it has commanded the confidence of buyers on account of 
 arriving in sound condition day after day. The excess in net return has been many 
 times greater than the extra cost of careful handling. The extra cost of handling the 
 fruit carefully has probably not amounted to 10 cents a box. 
 
 What has been accomplished here can be duplicated, so far as the sound arrival of 
 the fruit is concerned, by any other shipper in California who will preserve the natural 
 keeping quality of the frail, by handling it carefully in the grove and packing house 
 rather than attempting to handle the shipments at the lowest possible cost under 
 conditions that make the fruit susceptible to decay. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 The experimental work indicates that what has been accomplished 
 in California may be duplicated in Florida. The decay of oranges 
 is closely connected with rough methods of handling the fruit. 
 Careful methods result in good keeping quality. Rough and care- 
 less work should be expected to cause decay, and the experiments 
 show that this is true. 
 
 Approved: 
 
 James Wilson, 
 
 Secretary of Agriculture. 
 
 Washington, D. C, October 22, 1908. 
 
 [Cir. VJl 
 
 o 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 
 
 inn i nil 
 
 3 1262 09217 8895