The Washington Navel, the original type, so called because the first trees were secured from the agricultural department in Washington, D. C., is accredited with bet ter and longer keeping qualities than any varieties of later introduction or develop ment, but that known as the Valencia is considered the choicest in flavor.
The Florida orange is too well known to need much description. In its best types. it may be conservatively described as one of the finest fruits the world has ever produced. The skin is generally thin, and the pulp and juice are rich in flavor and very generous in weight and amount. Among the best types of the mid-season Floridas are the Indian River and Pineapple—of the later, the Tardif.
The best Porto Rico oranges are of delicious flavor and sweetness, but they do not appeal to the public as strongly as the Florida and California, the product being vnall and less "fancy" in style, because West Indian shippers have not yet learned to exer cise the same care in selection, sorting and "polishing" the fruit.
In California, oranges receive much after leaving the parent tree— and they are gathered only on sunny days, as the damp fruit would attract dust, to the detriment of their appearance.
The first step after plucking, is to give them a bath to remove any dust that may have settled on them. For this, they are placed in a long, narrow tank of water, at one end of which is a large wheel with a tire of soft bristles, revolving in connection with another set of brushes in a smaller tank below, the oranges pass ing in between the wet brushes and coin ing out bright and clean. This device has almost entirely done away with the method of hand scrubbing, but at some of the smaller packing houses may still be seen groups of women, each busily scour ing the golden balls.
After their bath, the oranges are spread out in the sun to dry, on long slanting racks. At the lower end, they roll off into boxes, to be carried away to the warehouses for their "rest," for vari ous changes take place in the fruit so recently cut off from the sap supply, the skin drawing closer to the pulp and "sweating" or giving off moisture that would result in damage if the fruit were packed at once.
After the days of curing, the oranges are fed into a hopper, which drops them on a belt running between revolving cylindrical brushes, which produce the smooth, shiny appearance of the fine market fruit, and then they go to the "sorting tables," where they are rapidly graded according to color and general appearance, as "Fancy," "choice," "standard," "culls," etc., and, mechanically, by size. The "Fancy" fruit are perfect in form and style and with unmarred skins of the typical orange color. The lesser grades are principally those in which the skin is more or less stained or "russet"-brown in color. Other trade terms of division are "Brights," divided into "Fancies" and "Seconds" ; "Golden Russets," "Dark Russets," etc. The sorting tables are built at a slight incline and the divided streams of oranges run in files on tracks of moving ropes. The smallest fruit falls through first, and so on to the largest, the oranges graduating themselves into their proper bins. There are twelve principal sizes, from those which run three hundred and sixty to a box, to the big specimens Which take only forty-eight.
Sharp corners are avoided or carefully padded in all these processes, for the fruit is so susceptible that even a small scratch might fester and destroy its merit between shipping point and destination. For the same reason, handlers and packers are obliged to keep their finger nails short and filed smooth.
Finally comes the wrapping of the finer fruit in paper—there are machines which can each handle forty thousand to fifty thousand a day—and the packing in boxes, the barrel method of shipping having been almost entirely superseded.
Though only fruit of fair size and appearance are, as a rule, offered for sale to the public, there is use for all undersized specimens. Very small oranges, generally unripe, are preserved whole in sugar as a sweetmeat, or used to make some varieties of "curagoa" and other liqueurs, for juices and jams or marmalades, extracts, essential oils, etc.
The orange peel most in demand for confectionery, preserves, candying, etc., is, however, that of the sour or Seville orange, described in the next article.