The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1913-10-28
HOW CITRUS EXCHANGE:
HANDLES It's FRUIT

The Lakeland association packin!
house of the Florida Citrus lIXChang,
had the lowest percentage of deca,
of any exchange house last season
Their output, the Shield brand
brought topuitch prices They dit
not lose a single member they hat
last year and have gained thirty-tiv
new members this season.
When the question was put - /.
s. Kinney, who is manager OF thi
house, How do YOU account for thu
low percentage of decay for the frui
handled by the Lakeland association
the past season." he said:
personal supervision. to see Ina
the Exchange way of handling fruit
is carried ont" was the reply. Blu,
you can not see personally that al
"details are carried out can yonp'
No." said he, but have a system
so that know who is responsible
and that is the persol .hat | deal
with, It's long story and required
careful planning so ,ilat responsible
ity could not be shifted fr m one "a
another
Il see you are a very busy man
this morning, Mr.. Kinney. setting
things in shape for your grand open
ing, so give us just oiu important
point.
"Well, here is one getting the
fruit into the house right.
Then he explained the working Of
the herewith reproduced field fore
mans inspection sheet.
THE field foreman is held respon
sibc for AL help unGer MIN; he hires
and discharges his own help. In a
climate such as ours h els just as apt
to got lazy as any one else if he is
not kept busy. If he sees that the
fruit is properl ypicked, placed in
the field boxes and loaded, he hasn't
time to get lazy Al pickers are
numbered and Given corresponding
numbered metal checks to place on
their picked boxes. The foreman
can't see all the NOES made by the
packers but he can tell each man $
Wrrk Ivy the number on the box. He
has no set tim" to inspect their work.
bnt must inspect, each mans work
by emptying an entire box, one or.
angc ut a time ana pace them into
another box once in the forenoon.
AGAIN in the afternoon No picker
knows which box will be examined,
so there is no use of attempting to
shirk on any part of his days work.
His record is marked on the inspec-
ton sheet. The foreman must watch
the trees for fruit left on. If there
is any fruit skipped, another picker
must be sent back to gather it, the
original pickers number is returned
to him, and the man that finished
the job right puts his number on 1t
and receives credit for the full box.
There is no need of quarreling with
a man about his work This kind Of
system avoids it, Then to see that
the foreman does his work. When
the fruits gets on to the grading
belt an inspection is made. and if
there is any long stems, clipper cuts
or pulled oranges he is asked to eX
plain. The foreman sees that his
men do their work right, the man
ager can, by glancing along the
grading belt and comparing it with
the inspection sheets, tell whether he
is doing his work right Tho in
spection sheets go in every morning
on the first load for the previous
days work. There are no over
filled boxes. A placard is placed on
all wagons stating this is growers
association wagon. No passengers
are allowed. The fruit does not be-
long to us. We cannot give or sell
any Of it. The owner would object.
The field foreman was asked how
his help liked such rules.
Sometimes the new men kick, bNt
they soon hogin to take pride in their
inspection sheet records, and inquire
how theirs compared with others for
the previous days work. Instead OF
the usual talk of how many did Won
get Yesterday, it is chow many mum
Der 2's and rs or As are marked
AGAINST you. We have the records
for every man for the past season
the men with the best records are
given preference. Florida Grower