Bulletin 229, Diseases of Citrus in Florida


rains in October, which seem to make the fruit more turgid
and more easily injured. In one case, where oranges were picked
under poor supervision and artificially colored, the fruit came
onto the grading belt with 98 percent showing varying degrees
of green spotting and 16.0 percent went into the cull-bin because
of advanced cases of such spotting. In this case, 99.9 percent of
the fruits in the cull-bin were so graded because of this spotting.
In one of the packed boxes, held in the packinghouse as a test,
16.8 percent of the fruit developed blue or green mold decay
within seven days from the time it was packed. Here was a
total loss of 30.7 percent of the fruit within 10 days from the
time the fruit was picked.
 An inspection of the fruit going through five different pack-
inghouses during the second week in October, 1925, showed that
from 63 to 98 percent of the artificially colored oranges had de-
veloped green or brownish-green spots in varying degrees and
that from 4 to 17 percent of the fruit being colored was going
to the cull pile because of this spotting.
 A competent, energetic field foreman is an essential part of
a picking crew. He should see that all pickers are properly
equipped with clippers, packing bags, and gloves. Every picker
should have a number, a duplicate of which should be placed on
each box picked by him. A percentage of the boxes picked by
each man should be inspected for picking defects so that the
quality of his work may be determined. This will enable the
foreman to check on the work of each picker and it will also ad-
mit of a check on the foreman by the manager over him. The
field foreman should make regular inspections of all picking
equipment and see that ladders and field boxes are free from pro-
jecting nails and splinters and that they are kept clean and in
good repair.
 The condition of the field boxes is an important factor in re-
ducing decay. Old field boxes are frequently repaired by com-
mon laborers with but little skill at driving nails and, often,
with less thought to the damage protruding nails may do to the
fruit. In one large packinghouse it was found that 32 percent of
the field boxes contained from one to four protruding nails each.
It so happened that these boxes were being refilled twice a day.
It is easy to see what such a careless practice may mean in loss
of fruit.
 Coloring in Relation to Decay:-Extreme care should be exer-