BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 345 



There was a most striking difference between the commercially 

 packed and the carefully handled series, both on arrival and during 

 the holding test. The average decay in the commercial packages on 

 arrival was 5.8 per cent, while the carefully packed fruit showed 1.2 

 per cent of decay. This difference was maintained through the hold- 

 ing test. After seven days the commercial packages showed 20.2 per 

 cent of decay, while the carefully packed fruit increased in decay only 

 to 9.9 per cent. In the appearance of the fruit, the differences were 

 even more marked in favor of the carefully handled lots. The fruit 

 packed in cork had 1.5 per cent of decay on arrival, and after seven 

 days 5.7 per cent. The redwood sawdust packages had 0.3 per cent 

 and 1.2 per cent of decay, respectively, on arrival and seven days 

 thereafter. The change from crate packing to sawdust packing is 

 not to be recommended, however, for ordinary commercial shipments, 

 except as a last extremity. The trade is accustomed to receive Cali- 

 fornia grapes packed in crates, and would undoubtedly object to a 

 change in the method of packing unless absolutely necessary to insure 

 the sound condition of the fruit. The results of the investigations 

 show that by using care to eliminate injury in picking, handling, and 

 packing grapes can be transported in crates with little or no deca}^ 



Another important feature of the results of the grape-shipping 

 ■work is shown by the comparison of fruit loaded on the bottom and 

 top tiers of the car. On arrival the decay on the top tier averages 

 nearly twice that found on the bottom. This difference militates 

 more strongly against the commercially handled than against the care- 

 fully handled packages. The commercial packages showed an aver- 

 age of 4 per cent of decay on the bottom tier and 7.5 per cent on the 

 top, while the "carefully handled packages had 0.9 per cent of decay on 

 the bottom and 1.6 per cent on the top. The work shows a direct rela- 

 tion between the method and type of handling and decay. 



Along with the shipping and handling experiments, a series of local 

 demonstrations were made by holding duplicate lots in a refrigerator 

 car kept iced during the season. These series were withdrawn on the 

 days when the corresponding ones reached their destination. The 

 lots were placed on exhibition and the growers and packers were in- 

 vited to witness the demonstration. The work has received the hearty 

 cooperation of all concerned with the industry — growers, shippers, 

 transportation companies, and eastern receivers — and a marked im- 

 provement in the methods of handling and shipping has resulted. 



Table-grape storage. — Investigations consisting mainly of the 

 study and determination of the factors which govern the keeping 

 qualities of table grapes in cold storage, with a view to lengthening 

 the marketing season, were continued during the year. The produc- 

 tion of grapes in California is increasing rapidly and the prospects 

 are that the output will be more than doubled when new plantings 

 come into bearing. Thirty-five new varieties grown on the coopera- 

 tive experimental vineyards of the Department in California wero 

 included in the tests of the past season. 



The most important result of the work brought out and fully cor- 

 roborated is the fact that the storage period of holding grapes can 

 be very materially lengthened by packing with some filling mate- 

 rial; in fact, it is not feasible to hold this fruit any great length 

 of time when packed in the ordinary shipping crate without a 



