The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-02-27

Is not the case. by December the
entire crop has turned yellow, and
heavily loaded s orange grove is
great sight to a tenderfoot. A tree
perhaps only ten feet high will be
loaded with ten bushels of big golden
fruit 1t is not measured by the
bushel, however. but by the box. A
fair yield for a navel tree is from
eight to ten boxes.
Most orange growers hire the pick
ing done, and the orange pickerS cor
respond to the harvest hands in Kan
sas. They are paid two dollars a day
and have stated hours, for in the
orange picking season the days are
comparatively short. The working
day is nine hours long. Each picker
IS provided with short bag, sus-
pended from his neck, and pair of
orange shears to cut the stems of the
fruit; for oranges cannot be pulled
They cling tenaciously to the tree, and
to pull them off would injure the
rru1t. An average picker will pick
from 60 to rs loose boxes a day; that
is, orange boxes with the fruit simply
poured in loosely. It takes about 500
loose" boxes to make 1852 packed
boxes, which constitutes a carload.
Unlike harvesting wheat, picking or
anges need not be rushed. The orange
grower, as a rule. can take months to
harvest his crop. There are some locali-
ties where this cannot be done For
instance, in the scattered groves of CEN
Ifal and northern California it must be
gathered early to getthe fruit out of the
way of frost, and in SINE localities in
southern California the fruit begins to
pun along In midwinter, which indi-
Gates that it must be picked or mar
keted or it will not keep. In most To-
calities, however, much of the fruit will |
hang on the trees till spring, and some
times there are old oranges still. on the
trees when new ones have begun to set.
As rule, however, the picking begins
in earnest Immediately after the holi- |
days and during January, February |
a nd &c. To,
ket. AS fast as it is picked the oranges
are hauled to the packing houses" A |
packing house in California has no ref |
erence to pork or steers. There is rot |
the slightest resemblance between a |
Riverside packing house and those that |
form the chief industry in Senator Jim |
Getty's town A packing house in the |
orange country corresponds to the eIe- /
VatOF in the Kansas wheat belt ONLY
there are more of them. There are a |
dozen or more in Riverside proper, and /
every three or four miles up and down
the Santa E'e and Southern Pacific |
tracks there are little towns or hamlets |
with a cluster of these packing houses
in the center.
Here the oranges are graded, sorted |
and packed for shipment. Very little |
is required, as all the work |
except brushing the fruit and sorting
it according to size is done by hand. The
wrapping and boxing is all
hand work. The grader sorts the fruit,
taking all those oranges that are de-
formed, off color, or have any defect
in them. These are culled, and the
balance are graded in from two to four
classes. according to quality. There are
three regular grades in oranges: Fancy,
choice and standard. Some packing
houses, however, make 1t a point never
to have any standards. Every orange
that is salable is made a choice at the
very least.
The grading is in some ways a snare
and a delusion- There is no uniform
IS in grading wheat. 1t all depends up
on the fancy Of the grader or the policy
of the shipper. Some shippers have
four grades: Extra fancy and fancy,
extra choice and choice, but one ship
per, who is careful in his grading, may
put as good fruit in his choice" brand
as another may put as fancy" one
of the needs of the orange business is
fixed standard for grading.
The packing, which consists Of wrap
ping the oranges in tissue paper and
placing them in the boxes ready for
shipment is largely done by women,
work. They are paid three cents box.
From the hands of the grader the
oranges pass down a long roller which
gradually DIVORCES from a round rubber
oelt. The belt carries them along the
roller and when the divergence is great
enough the orange drops through into
4 chute and thence into a bin. OF
course all oranges of the same size drop
-nTOusn at InG same pace, SO IudI GdCH
Din contains oranges of exactly the
same size. Ten or twelve sizes are
recognized by the trade. The packers
stand by the bins and wrap the oranges
and fill the boxes with great rapidity.
The largest size packs "a in a box,
out there are very few of these and the
growers are not anxious for them, as
hey will not bring as much per box as
he smaller sizes. The next size packs
20 to the box and the next Sc, but these
ire not very desirable either The reg
liar sizes run at 126, $50, 176, zoo and
so to the box. The smaller sizes run
.8S and 800 to the box. From $50 to 200
ire considered the best sizes, as the
'etailer will realize almost as much per
lOzen for them as he will for the So
size, and there are nearly twice as
many in box.
The orange market is generally fixed
~ New York. There and in Boston, {
and a few other eastern ]
markets, daily fruit auctions are held, |
where wholesale fruit dealers bid on the I
ruit. These sales are managed by
commission men. Samples of each lot {
# fruit are exhibited at the auction,
md the fruit sells on its merit and not
armer who has been raising wheat in |
saline county for twenty-five years, {
anne to Riverside two years ago and {
invested in orange property in the !
High Grove district. BY studying the !
onditions of the market and establish !
ng a reputation for high grades, he has I
hus far this winter topped the New !
FORK market with everyone of the six I
ars he has sold there. and he also holds g
he record for the highest price received {
or any California oranges on the New '
FORK market this year.
Topeka and the west generally does l
ot get the best oranges as a rule; they I
re sent to the east There are two s
easons for this. One is that. western e
callers do not recognize the difference I
etween first and second grade fruit, a
S they can get just about as good i
rice for second as they can for first t
rade. The other reason is that as the +