The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1906-06-05
HARVESTING ORANGES
IN iTs PRIME A GROVE YIELDS
FOUR TO six BOXES
PER ACRE.
Japanese Favored as PIckers Because
Of Neatness, FaIthfuIness
Wis. and Sobriety.

Wis and sobriety.
From early in December wher
fruit is picked for the Christmas
market, until May, is the busiest
season for the orange grower, and
all through these months one may
see among the groves that every
where crowd up to the highways In
the orange belt" groups of pickers,
tawny Mexicans, little brown men
from Japan and occasionally few
whites, deftly clipping the fruit
from the trees with shears and plac-
ing 1t carefully in canvas bags sus-
pended from their shoulders, says
the Chicago News. The navel orange
tree, the prevailing type, Is OF low
stature, seldom over 10 or 2 feet In
height, so that the greater part OF
the fruit is easily reached from the
ground for that in the higher
branches the stepladder comes into
play. From the canvas bags the fruit
Is transferred into small boxes
placed at convenient points to be
picked up later by the wagon men
and drawr away to the packing
house, Eacn of these small boxes
contains an average of about 200
oranges and skilled picker will fill
from 75 to 100 boxes a day, receiv-
ing for the each box the sum of 8
cents.
An orange grove IN its prime Will
yield from four to six boxes per acre,
and tn groves will average about
one hundred trees to tie acre, A
ten-acre orchard will, therefore,
yield In good season about 4,5OO
boxes. The orange is easily injured
and rendered unmarketable by
rough handling, and great care must
be exercised all through the process
of harvesting and packing to avoid
loss from this source. Japanese
pickers are favored among the
orange growers, not only because Of
| the neatness, care and skill which
mark their work, but because OF
| their sobriety and faithfulness.
If the oranges need washing when
| picked, which is not often the case,
| they are gently dumped into shall
| low vat, where they are moved along
| by a travelling belt between brushes
!
thence up to platform to be dried
in the sun. If they have no need Of
this cleansing process they are
dumped into another capacious box
or apron to be caught and carried by
another slow moving belt up to
platform, where they pass along un-
der the inspection of a group of
workers, who pick out the imperfect
fruit, and deposit them in canvas
shutes for other disposition.
From this point the stream,
freed from its impertections, flows
on and down a gentle incline to a
lower level after being caught up on
| the way in a pocket-like contrivance
in which the weight of the oranges is
taken and registered. On the lower
level the oranges, which still, like
poor Joe, are "allus a-movin' on are
made to separate themselves into
three sizes or principal grades by
which they are known to the market
STANDARD" "choice" and fan
cy." This is done by the simple de1
vice of long trough or shallow
| wooden channel, with a slit at the
bottom running lengthwise and
varying in width, according to the
sizing desired. AS the little rivulet
of oranges flows along this trough
the separation Is effected by the fruit
dropping through this slit according
to size, the smallest first and last OF
all the golden beauties labeled fan
cy." AS they thus separate them
selves the oranges roll down through
side chutes into shallow canvas
boxes, whence they are picked up by
| the deft and nimble fingers of other
workers, usually young women,
wrapped In soft paper and packed in
the boxes, not to be seen again until
| opened for sale in the Eastern mar
kets Then they are ready for their
long journey over mountain and
plain to the orange lovers of the
Middle West and the Eastern sea-
board.
This is the harvesting. There are
many other phases of the industry
from the getting out of the nursery
tree to the marketing of the product
equally interesting and worthy of at
tention The trees are transferred
from the nursery to the orchard
when they are about two years old,
and are in fairly good bearing when
they are Ave years Of age. In fav-
oring climate and under proper care
the tree lives and maintains its pro-
ductiveness with little variation for
many years The once famous Wolf
skill orange orchard, near Los An
geles. the first one planted for profit
in California, is now over fifty years
old. Many small orchards of seed
lings planted in the early sixties are
still fourishing. One such In the
town of Sonoma has trees three feet
In circumference which have borne
In recent seasons as high as 25 boxes
each. The mother of all the navel
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