78 STATE POMOLOGICAL S0CIE;TY. 



"THE COLD STORAGE PROBLEM." 

 By Prof. Maxwell J. Dorsey, Orono, Me. 



Fruit growing has gradually developed from a neglected 

 adjunct to the general farm to an industry of national con- 

 sideration. It is regarded in its original light by some today, 

 but that number is gradually becoming smaller. Its extent is 

 such that commercial conditions are seriously unbalanced by 

 even a partial failure of a crop in any of our extensive fruit 

 growing regions. Growers, transportation companies and con- 

 sumers suffer alike. The loss, however, is being felt less and 

 less as the storage problem is being worked out. 



Cultivating, pruning and spraying is one problem confronting 

 the orchardist. But after the crop is grown and harvested in 

 good condition another phase of fruit growing presents itself — 

 and that is putting it on the market. Often as much toward 

 financial success depends upon marketing the crop in proper 

 season and condition, as upon growing a good crop. The efforts 

 of an orchardist may result in little profit if it is necessary to 

 market the crop when the "glut" is on. Here then is the 

 province of cold storage. 



The development of the storage industry within the last 

 twenty years has been so rapid that its real extent is not gen- 

 erally recognized. 



It is difficult to estimate accurately the present extent of the 

 cold storage industry as applied to the fruit industry. No 

 reliable data are available. There are probably from looo to 

 1500 storage plants in the United States today, handling fruit 

 in some form. The number is rapidly increasing and no doubt 

 they will exert a great influence upon the fruit industry in the 

 future. 



The application of refrigeration is not limited to holding fruit 

 over season. It is now an extensive adjunct to transportation. 

 Applied to both holding fruit over season and to transportation, 

 the consumption period of fruit is not only lengthened, but 

 growers are able to reach markets heretofore unsupplied. The 

 storage industry, perfected along these lines, will enable every 

 market to be supplied in and out of season. 



