I wish that you could see the trees when they are in full blossom, and also when they are loaded with the golden fruit. I am going to put some orange blossoms into the envelope, but I am afraid they will not reach you in very good condition. They are very fragrant, and you can smell their perfume some distance from a tree in blossom. To-day we picked about two hundred and fifty boxes of oranges. We always speak of _picking_ them, although they are not picked, but cut. You see, if they were picked off, the part where the stem pulled off would soon begin to decay. We take a wagon load of fruit boxes, and, while father drives slowly between the rows of trees, I throw them off. [Illustration: FIG. 56.--Picking Oranges in California.] Each picker carries a sack slung over one shoulder, and as fast as he cuts off an orange, he drops it into the sack. The sacks are emptied into the boxes, and these are loaded on to the wagon. Father pays five cents a box for picking, and a good picker will gather about forty boxes in a day. We sell most of our oranges to fruit companies. These companies pack and ship the fruit. At the packing houses the oranges are placed in tubs of water and scrubbed with small brushes. Many women, girls, and boys work at this. The washing is to take off dirt, and also _scale_. [Illustration: FIG. 57.--Grading and Packing Oranges.] After the oranges are washed, they are placed in a sort of trough which is highest at the end near the tub. They roll down this trough to the _grader_. This is a machine so arranged that the oranges pass through different openings according to their size, and come out sorted. In the warehouse close by they are wrapped and packed. Chinamen often do this work. Each orange is wrapped in a separate piece of paper, which has the brand of the company stamped upon it. It is then packed firmly in a box. A certain number of oranges of each grade fill a box, ninety-six of the largest grade, and about two hundred of the smallest. Those which are too small, as well as the imperfect oranges, are rejected. These are called _culls_. Sometimes these are sold for a low price, and sometimes they are thrown away by wagon loads. After the boxes are filled, they are placed in special fruit cars and hurried to St. Louis, Chicago, New York, Boston, and other cities.