The Wonder Book Of Knowledge Part 41

Pictorial Story Of The Fishing Industry

[Ill.u.s.tration: FISHING

COMING ABOARD

HALIBUT FISHING

ICED UP

BAITING UP

Six pictures by courtesy of Gloucester (Ma.s.s.) Board of Trade.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: MODERN FISHING VESSELS

NIAGARA

ARTHUR JAMES

TARTAR

MARY DE COSTE

ALICE]

[Ill.u.s.tration: SETTING THE TRAWL

HAULING THE TRAWL]

[Ill.u.s.tration: DRAWING THE NET]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FISH CURING

PITCHING OUT

FLAKE YARD

FLAKE YARD

FISH WHARF]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PREPARING Salt Fish FOR MARKET

PACKING

SKINNING

BONE PULLING

DRY FISH SHED]

The Story in a Box of California Oranges

For several hundred years oranges have grown in this country. For about the last forty years men have made a business of growing them.

Oranges and lemons are called citrus fruits on account of their content of citric acid.

The two predominating varieties in California are the Washington Navel and the Valencia orange.

The California Navel orange is in the markets of the country from December 1st until about June 1st, when the California Valencia type takes its place and remains until the latter part of November.

It is a fact, therefore, that oranges are now picked fresh every day the year round in this country, and that the California oranges you buy in the summer are not fruit that has been held in storage, but are as fresh as any fresh fruit that the retailers offer.

Most California oranges and lemons are picked from the trees by gloved hands, so that the finger nails of the pickers will not injure the skin, for even a tiny scratch on the skin of an orange or lemon is sufficient to open the way for germs of decay.

Mr. G. Harold Powell, formerly connected with the United States government, was the discoverer of this source of great loss to the citrus industry. The use of gloves in the picking is thought to save the growers approximately $1,000,000 yearly.

When the oranges have been picked they are sent in boxes to a packing house where they are put through an automatic washing machine which thoroughly scrubs all dust and dirt from the skin; they then pa.s.s through a dryer and thence along a belt to men and women who roll the oranges over for examination and distribute them to other belts according to their color and the condition of the skin with regard to blemishes of all kinds. The oranges then pa.s.s over automatic sizers--that is, V-shaped rollers revolving horizontally. The oranges continue along these rollers until the s.p.a.ce between the rollers has widened to the point where each particular size drops into a labeled bin. The sizes are designated by numbers, such as 150, 176, 250, etc., these figures signifying the number of oranges that may be packed in a regulation size box in which the jobbers and retailers buy the fruit. In other words, size 150 is a larger orange than 250.

The quality of an orange is judged in the packing house merely by the color and the condition of the skin. Size has something to do with it, but this is only one consideration. Many of the smaller oranges are just as good to eat and sometimes very much better than the larger sizes, and the condition of the skin, unless it happens to be broken in any way so that germs of decay can enter, ordinarily has no depreciable effect upon the flavor. The public, of course, finally judges an orange by its sweetness and tenderness, and a large, well-colored, smooth fruit is likely to reach the market in better condition than the rougher fruit which has a marred skin.

Oranges are usually divided in grades into four cla.s.ses called, in the order of their quality, Extra Choice, Choice, Standards and Culls.

Lemons are handled throughout the processes in practically the same manner as oranges.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photo by Brown Bros._

WHERE THE GOLDEN ORANGE GROWS.

The far-reaching orange groves surrounding Riverside are one of the most beautiful of all beautiful sights in Southern California, and the fragrance of the blossoms is subtlest witchery.]

After the fruit has pa.s.sed the graders and the several sizes are separated, it goes to the packers, who pick up each orange or lemon and place a tissue wrapper around it, and press it firmly into the shipping box until the fruit "stands up high" above the top of the box. The cover is then nailed on and the box is placed in the freight car which is waiting at a convenient door. The average car carries 400 boxes of oranges or lemons.

The fruit is shipped in refrigerator cars, and is usually about eight days in making the trip from Southern California to the Eastern markets.

The California Fruit Growers' Exchange ships on an average of sixty-five per cent of the California production of citrus fruits. This is a strictly non-profit, co-operative organization of 8,000 growers, the largest body of agriculturists operating on the non-profit co-operative plan in the world, and probably the most successful. At least, the cost to market the citrus crop under this system is lower than the marketing cost of any other agricultural crop in the world, which accounts in part for the fact that oranges and lemons are sold throughout the United States at retail prices which place this fruit within the reach of all.

What Kind of Steel Knives do not Stain nor Rust?