272 ANNUAL, REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 



PRECOOLING INVESTIGATIONS WITH BERRIES. 



The factors chiefly responsible for the decay and deterioration of 

 raspberries and Logan blackberries in shipments to Chicago and 

 other markets in the Middle West were the subject of investigations 

 at Mountain View, Calif. A comparison of the shipping qualities of 

 berries that were commercially handled and similar fruits picked 

 and handled under more careful methods by bureau workers showed 

 approximately four times as many decayed and unmarketable berries 

 in the commercial packages as were found in the carefully handled 

 lots. The results of careful handling were effectively used for 

 demonstration purposes at meetings of the berry growers. 



The value of prompt handling in connection with precooling in 

 preparing the fruit for long-distance shipment was quite apparent 

 from the brighter color and added firmness of the berries that were 

 precooled when compared with similar fruit that was held without 

 precooling under iced-car conditions. Easpberries were found to 

 carry in better condition than Logan blackberries when handled by 

 careful methods. In general, the results of the experimental work 

 showed that by the adoption of more careful methods of field han- 

 dling in connection with the efficient precooling of the fruit rasp- 

 berries produced in this section may be placed in sound condition m a 

 wide range of markets in the Middle West and Northwest. 



NUTS. 



Pecan culture. — For scA'eral years there have been persistent re- 

 quests from pecan growers that the dej^artment establish test sta- 

 tions at various points within their territory. As the department 

 had no funds with which to purchase or rent land, tenders of sites 

 in several important pecan-growing regions were made to enable it 

 to establish work within the region. As a result about 50 acres 

 of land have been placed at the service of the department for an 

 unlimited period. The area has been fenced, and the necessary 

 office facilities and implement shelter, together with a water supply, 

 are being provided. The site selected, after an examination of a 

 large number offered, is located at a railway station in Lee County, 

 Ga., known as Philema. This area is being improved by the culti- 

 vation of leguminous cover crops, and there is adjacent to it a 

 seedling grove of pecans which has been placed at the disposal of the 

 department for top-working purposes. A series of tests to determine 

 the relative value of budding and grafting for top-working pecans 

 has already been begun. Tests to determine the A^^alue of pruning 

 the pecan are also under way. A considerable number of crossbred 

 seedling pecans is lined out in nursery rows, and a quantit^y of nuts., 

 the result of hand pollination, will be available for planting during 

 the coming season. One project which it is proposed to carry out, 

 in addition to the fertilizer work and the cover-crop work which 

 have been under way for several years, is a determination of the 

 factors in the nutrition of the pecan which affect the setting and 

 holding of the nuts on the trees. To this end a plan for irrigating 

 certain blocks in the experimental area will be worked out. Because 

 the natural habitat of the pecan is along river bottoms, where mois- 

 ture is abundant, it is believed that an adequate supply of soil 



