It has become a trite thing to say that care should be exercised in picking and marketing, not to injure the fruit ; but recent investigations have given such advice new significance. The work of Powell and others in California, and similar in vestigations in other parts, have shown that a good part of the losses in oranges and other fruits in shipment is due (1) to bruises and cuts on the fruits, and (2) to failure to cool the fruits quickly after they are picked or packed. This is rational when it is considered that the organisms of decay enter at the bruised and broken places, and a high or even ordinary temperature encourages the organisms to grow rapidly. This subject is discussed in the succeed ing article. The whole subject of cooling, stor ing and handling fruits must soon receive radi cal attention.
Literature.
There are now many good books on fruit growing, presenting the subject from different points of view and for the different fruits. Mention of some of them will be found in May nard's article on Farm Garden, page 273. Some of the current books covering t h e general field are: Thomas, Amer ican Fruit Culturist ; Budd and Hansen, American Horticultural Manual (Vol. II is devoted to Systematic Pomology); Green, Amateur Fruit-Growing (with special reference to cold climates); 1Vickson, California Fruits ; Bailey, Principles of Fruit-Growing. The progressive fruit grower will need the discussions in experiment station bulletins, transactions of horticultural societies, and the agricultural press.
Handling and shipping fruit. By G. Harold Powell.
A fundamental principle for the fruit-handler and shipper to appreciate is that a fruit is a living thing, that it passes through a life-history and finally dies from old age when it has completed its chemical and physiological changes, and that it may die prematurely from the attack of some dis ease. Some of the diseases, like the bitter-rot and the scab of the apple, affect it while it is on the tree, while others, like most of the soft rots of the apple, pear, orange and small-fruits, are acquired after the fruit is harvested. Diseases of the latter class generally attack it through abrasions or other physical weaknesses of the skin caused by rough handling. It is especially important to appreciate the effect of breaking ;:he skin of a fruit and of shipping fruit that is attacked by in sects or fungi, as the large commercial losses that occur annually in the storage and shipment of fruits are related primarily to these defects.
}nen to pick.
Most fruits should not be picked until they have reached a stage of hard ripeness. If picked earlier, the flavor is insipid, the color dull, and the whole someness and commercial value are impaired. Fruit picked when immature does not keep so well as when more nearly ripe. The seeds of the apple and the pear should have turned brown, the apple and the stone fruits should be highly colored but still hard, and the small-fruits well colored but firm when picked. The pear should be picked as soon as the seeds turn brown, but before it shows ripeness in the color. Lemons are picked when they have reached a desired size, irrespective of color, and the green fruit is colored in curing. Oranges should reach full color, and should have attained good quality before picking. It is a common prac tice early in the season to pick the orange while the color is still green, and to color it in a room by heat and moisture from oil stoves with water pans over the flame. The practice of picking fruits in an immature condition that are to be eaten out of hand is to be strongly condemned, as it injures the reputation of the fruit to have green specimens in the hands of the consumer.
Handling the fruit.
It is difficult to give specific advise on the care that is necessary in fruit-handling. To be able to handle fruit carefully is inherent in the labor and in those who direct and advise it. A clumsy handed individual never makes a good picker or packer, nor can the full efficiency of a labor force be attained without a high-class foreman or man ager. The cause of bad handling frequently has its roots in the system of labor management. Contract labor, piece-work in picking, packing, and in other handling operations, is fundamentally weak, as it encourages large outputs, irrespective of the qual ity of the work. Labor paid by the day is likely to be more efficient, provided it has competent super vision. \lore fruit is injured by careless handling than fruit-growers suspect. Apples generally show at least 10 per cent of the fruit with the skin broken by dropping it into baskets or on the piles, or by rough handling in other respects. Peaches and the small-fruits are usually injured to a greater extent, and 2 to 00 per cent of the oranges often have the skin cut by the clippers in severing the fruit from the branch.