Arizona republican., 1898-11-30
ALONG THE ORANGE BELT
Scenes at inc Groves Where Picking and Packing is Going On.

The orange groves with the highly colored fruit yet on the trees are a source of attraction at this time of the year, and almost every day the owners e. the different DrJr,r5ie5 n the foothills are enSiyeG ll ::.;:in- p1rtics tl1Gugh chai groves It takes q long time to get past some of these ,rees," said MT W. NJ. Ward to a reporter for The Re publican who spent yesterday morn ing in the orange belt. Especially is this so when there are ladies in the party who are from places in 1h9 east where orange trees are nos raised, he continued.
 Only a few boxes have been picked from the trees at the Ward grove, and a pretty scene is presented by the h6av- ily-laden trees. The leaves Of the trees have 9 rich green color and the contrast which the brightly col ored oranges give makes a visit to 2 grove at this time q delightful experience Many parties visit the groves Sunday afternoons, but the travel has been light rhis year owing to the bad condition Of the roads pre- vious to the late rains. The rains left the roads in fine condition, and in the upper portion of the valley they have already dried out.
 MT w M Ward is engaged in pack ing oranges for 2 number of the orange producers of the valley at his new packing house which he built this fall on his residence lot north of his grove. This is the first packing house to be built in the valley. and 1t is 2 fittinS circumstance that the man who set out the first orange grove in the valley chn JD11iI T of.f-i O mouse. Mr Ward came to this valley nine years ago from Florida and brought some Florida trees with him He bought tWenty-siG acres near Camel Back and set out his trees. For four years he watched their growth careful ly, and looked after their nOuriShment by the application Of fertilizers, until today he has a grove which is yielding large income. he expects to have at least double the yield next year, as the grape fruit and lemon trees were cut back last year and they will not bear again until next year. The yield this year will require four cars 10 carry 1t to eastern markets, and this is but the fourth year his trees have been in bear ing. His grove today stands as an eX- ample of the success of the orange in dustry in this valley, and there are many other groves doing just as we'll
 | was a long, hard pull for me. said MT Ward to the reporter, but it is over now, and I feel well repaid for the work I had to do for four years with out any returns.
 The packing house which Mr. Ward has built is 48x30 feet, and the entire building is used only for packing the fruit, as shipments are made as fast as this work is done and no store room is io-14 41z- Q -nA T inside, and the process of packing is carried on very fast. The fruit Is placed in a large bin at one end Of the house from the outside of the building, the floor of the bin sioping to the cen ter so. that the oranges are carried by gravitation in a Hume and roll on to the sizer which is on the floor below The sizer is late invention, and is ca pablo of handling 1 GOO boxes of or anges a day. man stands at the head Of the machine feeding it witIl one hand and with the other turning a crank which operates an endless cable on which the oranges rest. The cable has two coils on either side running to- ward the mouth of the machine and on these the orange is taken along until il comes to the point where the gradually separating coils allow it to fall into q bin below from which it takes it's place in a box at the side together wi5h other oranges of it's own size and importance There are seven sizes, running from those which require 288 to fill a box UT to the largest fruit, a box of which contains about eighty oranges. Thf packing is carried on under the dlrec ton of Mir W K. Bowen, an expert enced and comDc.ent packer who camt to this valley some years ago from Florida, and a half dozen men are em ployed The men are skLllful arC rapid in their work, and, with the ia ci1ities at hand, are enabled to pack several hundred boxes q day. After { box is filled it is placed under pack CT, the cover is placed on the box, ant