Cin rrp MP ae on * arr rr eee cre 3 sna pshire bibdate Mig Ask oink eh crashes ey ne ApoB) ee Cy Aaah Be 0 Fie ac peer iical wens a 4 Os Nia aay ies un Sha pen cin tet a Ce moat sae tir mea) ers ia wal ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY NEw YorK STATE COLLEGES OF AGRICULTURE AND HoME ECONOMICS AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY Cornell University Libra Factors influencing the keeping quality MINOR THESIS FACTORS INFLUENCING THE KEEPINGQUAL# IVY OF FRUIT, BY . ‘s : C. F. NIVEN, B, Agr. 1908, 9B 360 N13 cad e2 PREFACE, Perhaps there is no subject that is of any more im= portance to the fruit growers than that pertaining to th the keeping qualities, It isa subject that is of in= terest more or less in all portions of the country. Use= ful experiments have been carried out along this line by experiment stations and private firms that have brought to light ways in which to prolong the marketing season and thus conducing to a better distribution of the pro~ duct, as well as by indicating some of the risks that ax are involved in the attempts to hold such products lon» ger than their physical characteristics will permit, : So in presenting this to the faculty as my minor thesis for a masters degree, I feel satisfied that it is @ subject that cannot be studied any too much for there is much to be learned that will be new and valuable to us all, not only from the commercial standpoint but from the pleasure side as well, In my experiment with apples and pears that I have been carrying on this wine ter, a good many valuable points have been brought to : light that had never come under my personal observation pefore, Yet I regret very much to say that one-half of the experiment had to be entirely discarded in the ear ly winter on the account of the cold storage room not . being completed, So I had to depend entirely on the fruit in the cellar for the results obtained, However, I have reviewed the work of a good many experimenters . along this line in order to collect as much information as possible concerning the ef€8cts of cold storage on fruit, CHAPTER, I INTRODUCTION, Fruit culture has come to such a point in the United States that the harvesting, marketing and general dise position of the crop have become matters of national importance, A general failure of the crop of apples, let it be from the cultural or storage effects, results in serious disturbance of commercial conditions in many important agricultural regions and involves heavy losses to mercantile and transportation interests as well as to the growers and consumers, It inflicts a hardship upon the consumers by depriving them of the most useful fruit that is brought into the household, Next to crop failure and the control of injurious insects and diseases, the most important feature con= nected with fruit growing at this time is the preser- vation of the crop for sufficient time to allow its dise tribution to consumers in sound and marketable condi- _ taon, This feature has become very important since the growing of the fruit has developed on a large scale in the middle and southern states where the climatic cone ditions are not such at the time of harvesting as to ale low a very long living and commercial period for the fruit. Under the effects of the hot weather a large portion of the fruit is thrown upon the market in the early fall in the last stages of its life and this ree sults in a supply that is greater than the demand in the beginning of the season and very low prices, This would be followed later by a scarcity of fruit and abe normally high prices, The successful keeping of apples and pears on a large scale in refrigerated storage, which began about I890, was hailed by the growers and dealers as a solu= tion to the problem and the practice of keeping the : fruit this way has since been carried on to a very great extent, Experience has demonstrated, however, that in many instances fruit stored in such houses in the fall has failed to come out in good condition in the late winter or spring, thereby resulting in a serious loss to the owner, Also it has been known for a long time that different lots of fruit in the same storage room behave differently. Some keeping in excellent condi- tion while others spoil, The storage of small fruits is a problem somewhat different from the storage of the large and more durable fruits, Winter apples and pears are usually too hard and immature when first harvested and stored for inme~- diate use, Cold storage insures good keeping of these for long periods until the proper flavor and quality has been brought out. The fruits ripen slowly in the lower temperature which is one of the secrets of long keeping and production of good quality, In the storage of small fruits the conditions and purposes are differ~ ent, The strawberry, for example, is usually in its prime when picked and then in its best condition for ta= ble use, The quality is not improved by further ripene ing and the quicker the fruit can be consumed the better All that can be hoped for in such a case is to hold, for a short while longer, the appearance and flavor of the fruit. In commercial practice, small fruits are sometimes stored for speculative purposes, The fruit is bought when the prices are low, kept in cold storage until the prices advance and then sold at a profit, But owing to the delicate and perishable nature of the fruit this practice must be carefully carried out or else the spec- ulator will lose in the deal, This system is now used for small fruits by many canning establishments for at the busy part of the season the fruit is often received faster than it can be cared for so it has to be put away in the cold storage room until it can be handled, So after investigating this subject it has been found that the cold storage system can be used with profit on any of the large fruit farms and certainly it could not be discarded in none of the large commercial establishments if the best results are to be obtained, CHAPTER} II. INFLUENCE OF COLD STORAGE ON THE FRUIT INDUSTRY, The application of cold temperatures to the preser- vations of fruitshas, without a doubt, influenced the development of fruit growing in America. When fruit had to be transported from the orchard to the market in come mon freight cars and boats without any artificial cool- ing, and when it reached its destination it had to be stored in pits, cellars or rooms of very warm tempera= tures, it was necessary to dispose of the whole crop at once else it would go bad on the owners or commission merchants and all profits would be lost, Even in the pest of times the fruit could not be kept in good con» dition very long and to put it all on the market at once would run the prices low and at the same time it would all be used up at once leaving none for the winter and early spring... The development of the cold storage sys= tem has entirely changed this, Instead of shipping the fruit in ordinary freight cars it is carried in a spe- cial car provided for the purpose called the "Fruit ree frigerator car", Other improved methods have made fruit growing possible and profitable in remote parts of the country and made the distribution of the most perishable fruits possible, The growth of the cold storage ware-= house is making the season of fresh fruits the year round, It is distributing them more untformly through= out the season thereby causing a more steady market, . So instead of an incidental feature of the farm, the apple is now the princtpa™ crop in “a ~ge sections of the country and its production, handling and marketing of the crop are becoming highly specialized forms of agri- culture, In many of the large fruit growing sections the handling of the crop and the marketing of it are con- trolled by organizations or by fruit merchants, These organizations or merchants buy the fruit in the orchard and who, through the special development of fruit and market statistics, are better able to handle them than the grower, However, apple storage is not always prof- itable, It prevents the premature deterioration of the fruit, but when the picking season is unusually hot and there are delays in getting the fruit into storage, the losses are sometimes heavy. This may be caused by the fall being cool and large quantities of fruit can be kept in common storage, The markets are well supplied with this fruit and the cold storage fruit will have to be held over until in the spring and all be rushed on the market at once, in order to be ahead of the early southern fruits, But on the whole the development of the cold storage system is proving beneficial to the fruit industry and encouraging its development over large territories, EXTENT OF COLD STORAGE WARK&e= HOUSING INDUSTRY, Perhaps there is no one thing that has had more ine fluence on the development of the fruit industry than that of the "Cold Storage Warehousing" and below I copy a paragraph from work done by the Department of Agri- culture showing the extent of the warehouse industry. Accurat®* statistics are difficult to obtain but in I90I it was estimated that the capacity of the cold storage houses, including meat, egg and butter storage was a I50,000,000 cubic feet of space, of which 50,000, 000 cubic feet distributed in six hundred warehouses, were devoted to fruit storage, Since I90I there has been a large increase in the number of fruit storage houses, especially in the apple growing districts, where many plants with a capacity of from five thousand to thirty thousand barrels have been erected in or near the orchards or the railroad stations, The cold storage business has developed most exten sively in large cities and in towns conveniently loca= ted for distributing the fruit later in the season to *G, H, Powell, bulletin, 48, domestic or foreign markets, In many cases these waree houses serve as a check to the general sale of fruit off the farms, In case the farmers storage house should not be large enough to hold his fruit, it can be trans~ ferred to the city warehouse and there stopped from go- ing on the general market, should the prices fail to be at a suitable figure to pay the farmer to sell, So below I give a table*showing a list of the cities and towns in which more than 75,000 barrels were stored about December the first I902 IN COLD STORAGE, PLACE, NUMBER OF BARRELS, CHICAS as eaves vasedee cons eegses Ol, 000 New York Clty sevesecoucsveoesecs 0200,000 Philadelphia and vicinity ...... 200,000 ROChEster cenccscccsessesesesece 150,000 St. Louis Mo. sesececcccccsceesL20,000 Boston and vicinity .eccovcsecesesl02,000 Indianapolis, Ind. .seseceseese s+ 100,000 Leroy, Ne Ye cocccvecescecesceesl00,000 Brighton, Ny Ye. secsececceeseee 490,000 Lockport, Ne Ys. seccesseeeseeee 90,000 Albion, No. Ye. coccccccvccsveces 36,000 - * G, H Powell, bulletin 48, U. S. Dept, cy On page four I stated that successful keeping of ap= ples and pears began about the year 1890, So from the | table above we can see that there was a great increase in the cold storage system during this period of twelve years especially in the large cities, This is one great proof that there is more profit in keeping fruit in cold storage than in common storage houses, The extent of apple storage business in states in which more than 100,000 barrels were stored about De-~ cember the first I902 is shown below. IN COLD STORAGE, STATES, NUMBER OF BARRELS, New York cecccccccccccccesecesees 961,000 Piltned a: 2 sscueeuwseuscanseneving 024000 MISSOULFL cccvccccccccscccecccessedel 000 Pennsylvania secccccccscccecsese cr20,000 OHILG scvecess tenues seve cesses cscs 135,000 MASSACHUSETTS cescccceccccccceeeet18,000 Indiana CONS e OED ECE CONS COR ENS ea eOT 4G OOO To compare the above table and to show the falling off of the common storage methods and the great increase in the development of the cold storage methods, below I give another table showing the different states that had IZ - most apples in common storage December the first 1902, APPLES IN COMMON STORAGE, STATES, NUMBER OF BARRELS, Now YOrk ceccccccvccccccccsescecett%,000 MAING sencnscccccccesecesensceeee240,000 New Hampshire seccccscccsesscoseseeled,000 Massachusetts cecoccscccccccceseeel00,000 Vermont Mebane Caste taiaweeo 00 From the above tables we can see that the cold stor= age system had made great advancement over the common way of storage and this increase is steadily going én each year. I am sorry that I was unable to obtain later statistics to show the more recent development of the cold storage system, However we know that it is making a steady advancement each year, FUNCTIONS OF THE COLD STORAGE WAREHOUSE, Time and again the question has been asked in what way the cold storage method affected the fruit in order to keep it in good condition so long, There is a good deal of misunderstanding as to the function of the ware- house and the condition leads to frequent confusions bee Id tween the warehouseman and the fruit storer, Though they might be avoided and the conditions improved if there was a clearer definition on the influence of fruit preservation, of cultural methods, methods of handling and the methods of storing, The best definition that I have seen on the subject is one that is found in one of the reports of the U. S Dept.* and is as follows: "A fruit is a living organism in which the life pro» cesses go forward more slowly in low temperatures, but do n@t cease even in the lowest temperatures in which the fruit may be safely stored. When the fruit naturale ly reaches the end of its life, it dies from old age. | It may be killed prematurely by rots, usually caused by fungi which lodge on the fruit before it is packed or sometimes afterward, The cold storage house is designed to arrest the ripening processes in a temperature that will not injure the fruit in other respects and thereby to prolong it@ life history. It is designed also to ree tard the development of the diseases with which the ®t fruit is afflicted, but it cannot prevent the slow xxamk growth of some of them, It follows that the behavior of different apples or lots of apples in a storage room is largely dependent on their condition when they enter the room, If they are in a dissemilar condition of rie *S. H. Fulton I4 penness or have been grown or handled differently, or vary in other respects, these differences may be expect= ed to appear as the fruit ripens slowly in the low tem-= perature, If the fruit is already overripe, the low tem- perature cannot prevent its deterioration sooner than would be the case with apples of the same variety that were in a less mature condition, If the fruit has been bruised, or is covered with rot spores the low temper- ature may retard but cannot prevent its premature decays If there are inherent differences in the apples due to the character of the soil, the altitude and to inciden= tal features of orchard management, or variations due : to methods of picking, packing and shipping the low tem= perature must not be expected to obliterate them, but rather to retard while not preventing their normal de- velopment," In general it is the function of the cold storage house to furnish a uniform temperature of the desired de— gree of cold through its compartwtents during the stor= age season, The warehouses are expected to be managed in other respects so that the deterioration of the fruit or any other injury may not be reasonably attributed to a poorly constructed and installed plant, or to its neg- ligent or improper management, The warehouseman does not insure the fruit against natural deterioration, he “Lo holds it in storage as a trustee, and in thatn relation is bound to use only that degree of care and diligence in the management of the warehouse that a man of ordi- nary care and prudence would exercise under the circum= stances in protecting the goods if they were his private property. If the temperature of the storage room fluctuates unduly from the point to be maintained and causes the fruit to freeze to its injury, or to ripen with abnor- mal rapidity, or if the management of the rooms or the handling of the fruit in other respects can shown to have been faulty or negligent, the warehouse has failed to form its proper function, 6 CHAPTER, III INFLUENCING OF THINING, GATHERING AND KEEPING, Since the time that fruit will keep in cold storage depends largely on the conditions of it when put in the cold storage house, it might be well to devote this chap- ter to a few of the methods of handling and general care of the fruit, before it is carried from the farm to the warehouse, PF, A, Waugh* , in his writings on the sube ject, considers the proper handling of,the fruit on the farm and between the farm and the warehouse the one great secret in its keeping qualities afterward, THINNING. In order to get the best prices for our fruit, let it be apples, pears, peaches or any of them, there must pe excellent qualities, a good uniform size and hand= some appearance, Next to cultivation, nothing contrib= utes more to bring out these these qualities than thine ning the young fruit on the trees, If the fruit is crow ded on the tree it is small, of irregular shape and cole or and comparatively flavorless, Overbearing also ine jures the vitality of the fruit and tree, hurting the tree to such an extent that the life and profitableness amuinning, Gatheringand Marketing, La will not last near so long, yet thinning is hardly ever practiced, Crowding is injurious in any crop, The far-= mer for instance, would consider it a farce to leave ten or fifteen stalks of cotten, corn or potatoes in one hill, Likewise, the gardner would not leave six or ten cabbage plants or cucumber plants in one hill for they have found out that less is produced by such a method and to thin out to one or two plants far better results are obtained, Yet the same farmer or gardner never x+hin thinks to thin the twenty or more apples or peaches on asmall shoot, They: seem to desire the greater num- per of specimens and poor quality while the market de-= mands the opposite. Good quality and fewer specimens are the better, All successful fruit growers now expect to thin their fruit, especially their peaches, plums and dwarf pears, It may be accomplished either by picking or by pruning the trees for such a purpose, If the grower re= sorts to the pruning of his trees to thin his fruit buds and fruit spores are else he might loose too much of his fruit. GATHERING, Thomas ,* says that mankind consists of two grand di-# visions the careless:-and the careful, Each individual "peer eed PraLt CalLturiet. may be assigned to his place under these great heads by observing how he picks or gathers his fruit, The careless shake the crop down on the ground or, if pick= ed by the hand, throw the specimens in the basket, rath- er than carry and deposit them carefully, Such persons wonder why they have such poor luck in keeping fruit for it nearly all rots prematurely... One cannot be too careful in gathering his fruit if it is to be stored any len*th of time and even in case it is to be consumed inmediatel; the bruised places on the fruit renders it unattractive and will not bring the best prices, Our people have passed the methods of living that were practiced in remote periods and have now come to the point where, " if anything dosn't look well it dosn't taste well," and for this reason among many others they command attractive fruit and will not pay attractive prices for anything else. So after know= ing this it seems to me that everyone should be as care ful as possible and try to put the best before the con suming public, When gathering the frit, it is advisable to gather what can be reached from the ground first, The pickers should be provided with handled baskets well lined with some soft material for the purpose, Ladders should be I9 provided for reaching the fruit higher up in the tree and in this case hooked baskets can be used, suspending them in the tree, When the basket is full the man comes downand places them two or three at a time in two-bushel baskets or barrels just as the case may be, In case x @eeceoe 80, eecceoce 20 No wrapping, eeeee pe ye _ $ @eoeeee 24, @eoeceose 76 Leaves, @eeseeeee 680 @ i " " 3 @eeeeoeeees 0 3 @eeeoeoese8 r00 By the results of the above table, we see that in case of two of the samples that were wrapped there was a percentage of 80 in perfect condition on the I8th, of January, whil the sample that had no wrapping at all there was only a percentage of 24 that could be counted good, And in all the samples that were wrapped the good fruit ranked way above that which had no wrapping with the exception of the sample that was wrapped in leaves which was no good at all, Following this are pictures of each lot showing the appearance of it at this time, 43 PLATE I Tissue plus wax paper a, poor fruit b, good fruit. This lot was wrapped with tissue paper first then on the outside of this was a wrapping of waxed paper, The picture is rather dark but the general appearance of the fruit can be seen, Lot b, is all fit for the market, There are a few shriveled specimens and a few dark spots but it is all perfectly sound, Also notice the appear-~ ance of lot a, which is altogether unfit for anything. PLATE II Nowrapping. a, poor fruit, by, good fruit, This fruit had no wrapping at all, notice the poor condition that the fruit in general is in, Lot a, was in such poor condition that it was almost past handling. See the soft appearance, the fungus and the juice run= ning from it while the picture was being made, Notice also lot b, dark blotches can be seen about on it which would hurt the market value of it, However, lot b, is almost sound but as a whole the fruit was in poor con- dition, 45 PLATE IIT Waxed paper a, poor fruit, b, good fruit. There were only a very few spacimens of poor fruit in this lot. Notice the perfect condition of lot b, it was as sound at this examination as it was when it was put away, The fruit was entirely free from blotches, The small dots in the picture was caused by impure devel- oper, The fruit can be judged by the specimens on the left of the pile, This fruit had a desirable color ::-. was in every way in perfect marketable condition, 46 PLATE IV Common wrapping paper, a, poor fruit, b, good fruit, When the fruit was examined on the I8th day of Decem- ber, just one month before this picture was made, this lot of fruit was one of the two best lots, But the last month it was in the cellar, from the I8th, of December to the 18th, of january it went to the bad fast. Only 56%, just a little over half, was good at this time, while on the 18th of December all of it was good, 47 PLATE V Double waxed paper, a, poor fruit b, good fruit, This lot of fruit was not hardly so good as txmurexk some of the rest, While at this examination 64% of it is recorded as good, s%ill it was not in perfect condition, There were a few dark spots on it as can be seen in the picture that would make its market value less, However, lot b, was perfectly sound and other than the loss in ap- pearance, it was good, Lot a, was entirely decayed, 48 PLATE VI Tissue paper, a, poor fruit, b, good fruit, While fruit b, of this sample was sound it. was a little splotched as can be seen in the pictures, However, 76% of the lot wrapped in tissue paper was good and sound and would have done very well to put on the mare ket, The remaining 24% was perfectlt decayed as can be seen at a, Entirely unfit for any purpose, 49 PLATE VII Tissue plus double waxed, a, poor fruit. b, good fruit. This lot of fruit wrapped in tissue paper then two thicknesses of waxed paper and lot three wrapped with waxed paper alone kept better than any of it. 80% in perfect condition, bright and firm and in first class market condition, Notice the bright appearance of the sound fruit, 50 PLATE VIII Wrapped in leaves, All poor, All the fruit that was wrapped in leaves was entire« ly worthless, I simply show a sample of the lot, Allg of it was just as can be seen in the plate, Entirely de- cayed and covered with mould, This was due to the damp= v ness and green condition of the leaves when the fruit was put away. From the foregoing tables and photographs of the fruit it can be seen that some kind of wrapper is entire- ly essential for the best keeping of pears, It not only prolongs the life of the fruit, but the wrappex keeps the fruit in a brighter appearance, In my own obser vation, fruit wrapped in tissue and waxed paper seems to keep the pest. The chief advantage of the wrapper fer fruit that is stored for only a short while would be more for mechanical pretection than anything else, ra~ ther than its efficiency to prolong the season, However, its use for this purpose is advisable if the fruit is of a superior grade and intended fer a first class market, For fruit of the late varieties, the wrapper has thexsa same advantage with the additional advantage of increase ing the commercial life of the fruit, It is especially efficient if the package is not tight in lessening the wilting, Again, if fruit is wrapped, when one speci-« men begins ta decay, the wrapper will prevent the fun= gus spores going from the decayed fruit to the sound and from my own obserwation I believe that fruit first wrapped with tissue paper and then waxed paper on the outside will keep the best, for the reason that the waxed paper will better prevent the moisture and deu caying spores from the already decaying fruit to enter 58 into the sound, And the tissue paper next to the fruit serves also as a protection to the fruit and also to the spores that should happen to get through the waxed paper, BERAVTOR APTER BEING REMOVED FROM THE CELLAR, When removing the fruit frém the cellar this time,I reserved several samples of it to observe the effects of higher temperatures on it after being brought direct out of the cool cellar, I placed one sample of rather soft fruit, but not decayed, and one of firm in the photograp: room where the temperature ranged from 65 to 75 degrees F, all the time, I examined it from time to time and found that within twenty-four hours after the soft fruit had been placed in the high temperature it was beginning to shrivel, while the firm had not changed any a hardly, In another day or two the soft fruit began to change its color and decay soon set in while the hard fruit ree mained perfectly firm for four days and without losing its color, And it was about four days longer before dew cay finally set in, I =lso placed like samples ina : room where the temperature averaged about fifteen dew oi w grees lower and samples of a like kind in a room that was still cooler and found the same results but not so quickly as did in the higher temperatures. So we can see that the rapidity of deterioratthon after it is taken from a cooler place and put into a warmer depends prin= cipally on the nature of the fruit, on its degree of mae turity when it leaves the storage room and on the tem perature in which it is stored, The Department of Agri- culture of South Whales has carried out experiments alon” this line and the results were similar except more marke ed and more in detail, From these observations, I con= tend that it will not pay to keep fruit off the market until it gets overripe, It must be put on the market while it is firm and then kept as cool as possible, STORAGE AFTER LYING ON GROUND FOR TEN DAYS, When gathering this fruit there was a small pile left lying out in the orchard under one of the trees, So just ten days after I had gathered my other fruit, I went back to the orchard and brought in a basket of this 54 fruit and placed it under the same conditions as that which I had stored, When this fruit was brought in, it had the appearance of perfectly ripe fruit, yet it was still firm, The weather had been rather warm, during the time the temperature ranged anywhere from 55 to 75 degrees F, in the middle of the day, After these pears had been in the cellar fer about three weeks they began to get soft and in a very short while rapid degay set in. And in a few days mere the entire lot was worthless, The delay of ten days in storing this fruit made a difference of at least two weeks in the period of keeping and the appearance of it was undesirable all the time, EXPERIMENT WITH THE PACKAGE, When these pears were stored in the cellar, we had several barrels full and a great many stored in boxes of various sizes, As I had been reading results of expere iments with different kinds and sizes of packages, I de» cided to watch this fruit and see the results, “he pears were put away about the tenth of October, The latter part of November I examined the fruit in the barrels and found it te be perfectly ripe in the center of the 55 barrel and beginning to get soft and the skin was begin= ning to turn dark, The fruit on top was still firm and of a better color, The fruit that was in a box of about half the size was not half so bad and that in a very small package halfebushel or less, was all still firm, By the latter part of Dec, the fruit in the barrels was no good at all, yet the smaller packages still remained in good condition with the exception of a few specimens, TFTURNCE OF THE WRAPPER Il HIGHER TEMPERATURES, To try the influence of a wrapper in higher temper~ atures, I placed a sample of each method of wrapping in a room where the temperature ranged all the way from 40 to 70 degrees, One month after this fruit was put in there, upon examination I found it all perfectly ripe, a lot of it seft and turning a dark color, I put it back and in three weeks later, seven weeks from the time it was stored I examined it the s:cond time and found the following results, 56 Wo, WRAPPING, %G00D SRAD, I, ecoces Waxed paper, eoeoee8ee 55 jen bedsabd eaSO ~ Re coeceecli@AVEB, seccevescee 20 seceseseeses80 Sy eevecvetlLBAUOnWax, seseses 468 seocsssceereh dy coccvcel1SSUCHLWAX, socece SO sevcccccsseetO By Giveqie il leeuey, Bue nuaemaee CO Gaeeaeeananel’ Gj euvaaysDOUDLS waked) cccac 16 4ocaeceesenke Ty eesesoeWFAPDIng PAPET, cee 45 cecccceceeeedd 8, ecoces eCheck, eeseevaessee. 0 sees eeveenen LUG ~ By taking a glance at the above table we can see that the wrapper is beneficial in order to keep fruit any length of time and, as in the lower temperature, the Waxed paper seems to have the greater effect on the preservation of the fruit, This fruit was also weighed twice but as the results were simply a gradual falling off, as in case of the pears in the cellar, I did not think it necessary to record them here, : The conclusions that I have come to after having seen the results of this experiment are that in order to keep fruit in good condition for any length of time, we must treat it fair. If while gathering and packing i» away, we handle it rough we may expect rough results, 57 Again, it will not do to crowd the fruit, It needs ven» tilation as well as people and in order to give this we must use packages that are smaller than the barrel, In my own estimation a package that is larger than a bushel box is undesirable and a half-bushel box is better. FutHlermore some kind of a wrapper is essential for long keeping and the waxed paper seems to be the most bene= Picial, And last but not least the fruit must be re= moved before it gets soft and keep in as cool place as possible, PART ITI EXPERIMENT WITH THR APPLES, In this country wealth is oblidged to pay respect to popular opinion, And of all the fruits the apple is the most democratic, This popular favor of the apple arises from the nature of the tree and the fruit. Any man who can grow corn can grow apples, "In every soil and in the most discouraging cir- cumstances the apple tree lives and thrives, It can bear high or low culthvation, It is not dyspeptid like the peach, apoplectic like the pear or scrofulus the plum, The apple is among the fruits like the cow among the animals, like the camel and like all good tnings uncomely -~- for beauty is only the mark which covers everything that is evil, We should as soon think of coddlins our forest trees as the apple tree, It will thrive in the stony lot too steep for the plough‘or grow in the meadod and repay us for the more abundant nutrition, '* HISTORY AND PRINCIPAL SECTIOMUS OF APPLE PRODUCTION, The apple is the fruit of a tree belonging to the rose family and known botanically as "Pyrus Malus", It is supposed to be a native of South Hastern Asia vlowenad Of Horticulture Oct, T905, 59 and of a large part of Europe, It has been cultiva- ted from thme immemorial, There are a number of spe= cies of the Wild apple in America, two of which ( Py- rus Coronaria and Pyrus Ioensis) appear to possess some value as possible fruit plants. The apple is the most important fruit of the Temperate climates and is peculiarly adapted to a large area of North A= merica, where it occupies a larger area than any other fruit. One feature which makes it so important is the fact that when the market is glutted it can be dise posed of in more ways than any other fruit. A large number of its varieties keep well, withstand shipment to and sell well in distant markets, The tree readily adapts itself to great extremes of climate, soil and other conditions, It is , in fact, the only fruit xe that has passed the bounds of luxury and become a sta» ple article of food except in the tropics, Its range extends, in the Northern Hemisphere, from Scandinavia to the mountainous part of Spain, From New Brunswick to the highlands of Georgia, And from British Colum= pia to the mountains of ‘‘exico, The great apple producing comntrics of the world are the United States, Canada, Australia and adjacent islands, Russia and Germany. In America the princi-~ pal apple districts are ilovia Scotia, New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Ontario, Ohio, Michigan, Ken- tucky and the central western states, Other younser sections are the Piedmont sections of Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee, The Pacific Coast states and Sritish Columbia, The apple is profoundly influenced by lattitude and climate, In the North Hastern states and Canada, the fruit is very firm, highly colored, of high flavor and long keeping qualities, As the apple regions ex- tend southward the fruit takes on a duller or less in= tense color and loses much of its flavor, has a ten- : dency to become larger and the keeping qualities are very greatly diminished, Thus the Tompkins King, which is one of the standard winter apples of the northernmost states, bacomes a fall apple in Kentucky, A knowledge of these influences of climate on the ap- ple is of great importance to the fruit grower, After the apple was distributed over such a large area and so many more were being grown than could be consumed in a short while, it became necessary for the grower to adapt somemethog in which he could hold 6L a part of his crop back for a later season, Thus the Cold Storage was looked to for this purpose, The fact that in most climates vegetable and ani- mal products were robbed of the principal of life de- cay rapidly, in warm temperatures and resist decay in cold atmospheres had, of course, been known through al. history, But the value of the practical application of that great truth of Nature in the affairs of every day life had not been understood until the present gen- eration, But now it has been demonstrated that great store houses, holding thousands of bushels of select fruit can be filled with cold air and so steadily and evenly held at a low temperature that the fruit, in its natural state, can be kept in almost perfect con-= dition nearly all the year round, Apples, like all other products, if left to tnem- selves, will undergo a series of changes to which the term decay is applied, The decay, or rotting of ap- ples is caused chiefly by fungi, of which there are three species most comwnly the cause of apple decay, Black Rot, in this the apple shows on the surface one or more brown spots which gradually spread until fie wnole apple is involved, Later the surface se- comes darker or quite black in color and is seen to be studded with minute pimples, These are the fruiting of the fungus whicn causes the rot and contain the spores by which it is propagated, Bitter Rot; This rot is similar to the naked eye as the foregoing but produces darker spots and the pulp has a bitter taste, Soft Rot: Perhaps this is the most common one of them all and causes more trovble to the fruit grower, In this form the color of the rotting area is lighter than in the preceeding forms, being lighter or yellow- ish brown and the pulp may become very soft, The fruit ing of this fungus occurs in «mite rounded tufts upon the surface, the tufts taking on later a bluish color due to the matured spores, The spores of the fungi causing these rots are pro- duced in immense numbers, especially in case of the last mentioned form and as they are easily floated by light currents of air, they are widely distributed and in all ordinary forms of handling, apples are more or less exposed to infection by them, However certain precautions will tend to limit the danger. Apples bar- reled in the orchard will be less liable to be infected 63 than if they are previously stored, uncovered in a dus- ty barn or a mould: cellar { The barrels themselves are liable to be sources of infection unless they are thotr oughly cleaned, Heat and moisture favor the develop-= ee of rot producin;s fungi, hence the advisability of % storing in a cool, dry place, So we see it is impos- sible to be too particular with our fruit when stor-= ing it. What was said concerning the gathering, immediate storage, maturity, type of packace etc, of the pears will apply as well to the apples and in view of this fact it will be useless to go into the details of these topics again. TIFLUENCH OF A WRAPPER, During the winter of I907 = 08, I took samples of six varieties of apples and wrapped them the same way as I did the pears to see if there was any difference in the efficiency of the different wrappers in retain- ing the quality of the fruit. The varieties that I had under observation were Greening, Baldwin, Spitzen= purg, Rambo, Bellflower and one unknown « These . 64 apples were weighed and examined once a month from the time they were put in the cellar, Oct. 20. up un- til the TSth, of April, Following this are tables of results of this test taking the varieties up in the order named above, GRERBITING, WRAPPING Date WEIGHT DATE. WEIGHT lbs, OZ. LOS, OZ, Tissue paper 10/20/07 3 54 Im/t8/oe8 3 5 Waxed paper nl 3 IOoFy " & TOF Check " 3 74, tt 3 2 Double waxed " 35 4 " 3 3h Wrapping paper " 3 T44 " a) A Tissue,plus waxed i 3 I2 " 3 Ir Tissue " 2 " 3 To " 3 9 Leaves, " S ” " 3 52 The above table shows the first two weighings of this fruit. The first one,which was made on the 20th, of October represents the weight of the fruit when it was put in the cellar, The second one, Nov, I8th, rep- resents the weight of the fruit one month later, It can be seen that there was a slight decrease in weight. The Lfollovine ing. Sd,and 4ti, WRAPPING, Date, WEIGHT, lbs, 02, Tissue paper 12/18/07 3 43 I/18/o7 Waxed paper " 3 OF Check " 3 6} Double waxed " 3 3 Wrapping paper tt 3 I34 Tissue plus waxed " 3 IT Tissue “2 " " 3 9+ Leaves x 3 se Sthand 6th weighing WRAPPING. Date, VEIGHT, DATS. LBS. OZ. Tissue paper 3/18/08. 3 22 3/18/08. Waxed paper 1 3 " Check " 3 643 ut Double waxed " 3 I+ " Wrapping paper " 3 IIz " Tissue plus waxed " 3 9 tt Tissue " 2 " " 5 Fe " Leaves " See " 65 table shows the 3, 4, 5,and6, weigh DATE WEIGIIT. lbs 3 oo w waa wa w * ToL ® a of BW BO WwW WN oOZ, wy J) “z 9 5 2 122 I0z OA? 28 66 During Jan, and Feb, therein was some very cold weather and during this weather the apples froze, So at this examination,3d of March, the fruit was begin- nin to shrivel from the effects of the cold, However they were put back for another months trial, The following table shows the weight of the fruit on thel8th, of itxx April and also the amount the fruit decreased in weight during the time it was stored, 7th weighing, Decrease in weit, WRAPPING, DATE, WEIGHT. DECREASE, Tissue paper 4/78/08 5S a TH . Waxed paper no a 32 Check " 3 32 22 Double waxed it 3 = 3+ Wrapping paper tt 3 IO 44 Tissue plus waxed Ht 3 8 4 i" a a t" 3 62 32. Leaves " oS de 54 The sample that was wrapped in leaves was the greatest loser while the one wrapped in common wrap- ping paper was the next, The check sample lost less than any of the rest, 67 The following table shows the per cent of good and bad fruit in each sample, WRAPPING, %GOOD BAD, Tissue paper I00 0 Waxed paper I00 0 Check 80 20 Double waxed T00 0 Wrapping paper 70 30 Tissue plus waxed Too 0 " a2 tt T00 0 Leaves 000 [00 The above table shows the condition of the fruit when it was examined on the I8th, day of April 1908, In this lot the sample wrapped with double waxed paper kept better than any of the rest, It de:reased less in weight than any other sampls and also I00 per cent of x it was good, While the check sample lost less in weigh. there was at least 20 per cent of the fruit that was worthless and none of it was in first class condition, The sample that was wrapped in leaves was all entire~ ly .orthless, All of this fruit, however , showed the effects of cold weather, The average decrease in eigh.s 68 of this fruit vas a little over an ounce per pound with the exception of the lot wrapped in leaves which lost nearly two ounces per pound, BALDWIN, HHH HHH HR This lot of fruit was handled in the same manner as the preceeding one, the weighings being made on the same dates, The first weight being made when the fruit was put away. Ist, and 2nd, weigning,. WRAPPING. DATE WHIGHT ° DATE WEIGHT Ives Ue. lbs.0g Tissue plus waxed 10/20/07 3 34 25 " 3 44 Leaves it 3 I4% " 3 132 Tissue plus 2 waxed i So Tes " 3 2d The next table shows the 3d and 4th weighing, 5a and 4th weighing. WRAPPING DATE WEIGHT DATE WHIGHT 1bs.0Z, 1bs.02Z. Waxed: paper 12/18/07 4 42 1/18/08 4 23 Tissue paper tt 3 I24 " 3 Ir Check i" 3 et " AF Wrapping paper " 3 I5s " 3 I4¢ Tissue plus waxed " 3.9 " S Double waxed " 3 I32 " & Ip Leaves Mt 3 I22 " S it Tissue plus 2 waxed " oO Lew. " 2. 1 Sth and sixth weighing, WRAPPING DATE WEIGHT DATE WEIGHT 1bS .0Z.~ 1bs,0Z. Waxed paper 2/18/o8 4 Is 3/18/o8 4 2 Tissue paper " % I0 " 3 9+ Check . 3 64 e 3 5¢ Wrapping paper " 3 I3¢ " 3 r2t Tissue plus waxed " oS 62 : 5S ay Double waxed a 3 I2 S ity Leaves " 3 Ioz tt 3 I0+% Tissue plus 2 waxed " 3 04% " 5 0 At this time the fruit was in perfect condition, There was hardly any change in appearance of it since it was put in the cellar, 8I The following table shows the seventh weighing and the entire decrease in weight of the fruit, 7th wei-hing,. decrease in weight. WRAPPING DATE WEIGHT DECREASE, 1bs.0zZ, OZ. Waxed paper 4/18/08 3 153 84 Tissue paper " 3 8 5S Check at 3 4} 4% Wrapping paper " 3 I+ Be Tissue plus waxed " 3 54 4 Double waxed " 5 Dos 43 eaves " 3 94 5 Tissue plus 2 waxed " 3 9 3s The results show that the sample wrapped in waxed paper alone decreased more in weight than any of the other samples while the sample wrapped in tissue plus double waxed decreased less than any of the rest, The decrease in this averaged a little more than an ounce to the pound, The following table shows the per cent of good and bad fruit that was in this lot. On the whole this variety did not keep so well as some or perhaps all of the varieties that have been recorded so far, — 82 WRAPPING %G00D BAD Waxed paper 90 IG Tissue paper 80 20 Check 70 50 Wrapping paper 90 IO Tissue plus waxed TOO 0 Double waxed 90 IO Leaves 85 I5 Tissue plus 2 waxed I00 ) By a glqnece at the two last tables it will be seen that the sample that was wrapped in tissue plus two waxed papers kept better than any of the other samples, This sample lost only 34 ounces which was less than any of the rest and at the end of the test there was I00 per cent of it good, The next best sample was the one wrapped in tissue plus waxed, VARIETY UNKNOWN, Thas was the poorest kceping variety that I had une der consideration, When the last examination was made most of the fruit was in poor comdition, The following table shows the first and second ~~ weights of the fruit. Ist and 2nd weighing WRAPPING DATE, WEIGHT, DATE WHIGIY lbs,0Z,. Lbs,.0Z, Waxed paper 10/20/ov7 3 I0+ Iz/18/o7% 3. IO Tissue plus waxed " 3 Tat “n 3 eh Double waxed " 4 34 " 4 24 Tissue plus 2 waxed " 4 4 " 4 34 Tissue u % IT " oe tee Wrapping u 3 74 " Ss Y Check i 3 8 " 5 Ve Leaves o 19 an 5 8) 5d and 4th weighing, WRAPPING DATE, WEIGHT, DATEH WEIGHT Lbs,02, 1lbs.02Z. Waxed paper 12/18/07 3 9 1/18/08 3 8b Tissue plus waxed f" oS Iie i o Ia Double waxed " 4 2 " 4 I Tissue plus 2 waxed " 4 24 " 4 2 Tissue " 3 OF " 3 84 Wrapping at 3 64 " 3 52 Check * 3 7 " 3 6¢ Teaves " KY " 3 62 This fruit was good at this time, The next table shows the fifth and sixth weighing. 5th and 6th weighing, WRAPPING DATE. WEIGHT Waxed paper 2/18/08 3 aE Sissue plus waxed " 3 IOs Double waxed " 4 4 Tissue plus 2 waxed " 4 Ti Tissue o 3 8 Wrapping x 3.5 Check if 3 54 Leaves " 3 6 DATE $/18/08 84 WHIGHT 1bps8.02,. & Td 5 I0 4 A 3 74 3 4} 3 4} 3 5s At this examination I found 20% of the sample that was wrapped in leaves worhtless, 7th weighing WRAPPIN DATE, WEIGHT, 1bS.036 Waxed paper 4/18/08 3 64 Tissue plus waxed " 3 94 Double waxed " 3 I5 Tissue plus 2 waxed " 4 Tissue " 3 6z Wrapping " 3 3} Check tt 3 3 Leaves, if 53 4 Decrease in weight DECREASE, OZ. 4 4} 4 ok > Ss With the exception of the sample that was wrapped _ od in leaves there was very little differenc2 in the amount of shrinkage from the different samples, The sample that was wrapped in leaves, however, decreased nearly two ounces to the pound, The following table shows the condition this fruit was in when examined the last fime, WRAPPING, %GOOD “BAD, Waxed paper 80 20 Tissue plus waxed 90 IO Double waxed 75 25 Tissue plus 2 waxed 90 TO tissue 50 50 Wrapping TOO 0 Check 30 70 Leaves 0 I00 This last variety seemed to be a poor keeper, In January the sample that was wrapped in leaves was begin- ning to show signs of decay, howevey none of it was en= tkrely decayed at that time, It will also be noticed that the sample that was wrapped in wrapping paper kept better than any of the rest while the sample that was wrwpped in leaves all rotted, CONCLUSIONS 28 ww oe me on ta ae 8 ok From results of these experiments the fédllowing conclusions may be drawn, I, To keep fruit in a first class condition for any length of time, it is entirely essential that it should be wrapped, The wrapper is beneficial in several ways, (I) The wrapper keeps the decaying spores from passing from one fruit to another, (2) Prevents severe wilting (3) Retains the color of the fruit, (4) Serves as a mechanical protection, 2. From my own obssrvation fruit wrapped in waxed paper will keep longer and in better condition than when wrapped in any other manner, 3, Leaves are inefficient for a fruit wrapper, 5.It is essentdal that fruit should be kept ina cool place after it is removed from the storage room, 6. Fruit should not be allowed to freeze, decays quicker, 87 7. Small packages are better than the barrel 8. Fruit should be stored as quick as possible after it is gathered, 88 BIBLIOGRAPHY, A et O28 ons OS OnE OE GD ee oe ee I, Agricultural Gazette, of New South Whales, Vol.I3, Gathering of Apples. 2yeae— Marketing of apples, 3, Alto, R. Study of the ripening of apples, Proskauer abstbau, Ztg. July Ig90I 4, American Gardener, Storing apples for exposition, Vol. 2I (1900) page 490. 5, Beach, S.A. N. Y. apples in cold storage, 3, Y. Station Bul, #248. 6 Blair, J. C, The apple package, Trans, Ill, Hort. Soc. N. Ser.37 (1903) 7%, Beach, S. A. Thinning fruit. Eastern , Y. 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S. picking and handling apples, Rural New Yorker, 1904, No 2855, p. 745, 40, Youngers, P. jr. Keeping quality of winter apples. ci Oe Wes Rao roo er ier ai roar crepe Wi vee sagt BLES ee PRES Pre tot } PL ai Wiper oh ethatel roe are eri icwes bial ce a eit aoe Sa Ae ae Maas : | 5 MH leet ie M4 - , i r . - a _ ns es pe ; 3 oe: est rhe ' i bf vet “ Ui ! ee " : eS eet om tte ei Pea ARNT tN eda serersen Dtat er ities ea 1 H beat Mert Bi ath ate OU Nr nn oh ad Nit SS SIR sent NSN poke CERN ase brat et ten pit eats Mahe titet 1 I Ciro Sanit vert Nope HAN Ahh a taut a ih ner ty AVAL Nina t By Cri SRT! PUR ORO eal OL Aen WISH Cate \ Pati A