324 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



FRUIT TRANSPORTATION AND STORAGE INVESTIGATIONS. 



The investigations relating to fruit transportation and storage have 

 been continued along the lines of previous years and valuable results 

 have been obtained. The work has been under the immediate direc- 

 tion of Mr. Stubenrauch, who has had associated with him in its 

 various phases Messrs. S. J. Dennis, H. J. Ramsey, C, S. Pomeroy, 

 A. W. McKay, G. H. Crawford, jr., C. W. Mann, B. B. Pratt, and 

 K. B. Lewis. Mr. Ramsey has had general supervision of the field 

 work. Mr. Dennis, as heretofore, has had immediate charge of the 

 technical engineering problems in connection with the precooling 

 investigations. 



Table-grape handling and transportation. — The investigations 

 of the handling and transportation of table grapes which were car- 

 ried on at Lodi, Cal., in 1908 and 1909 were continued during the 

 shipping season of 1910 at Lodi with the Flame Tokay grape, to- 

 gether with a similar line of work with the Malaga variety at Fresno, 

 Cal. The results of previous years which showed a definite relation 

 between the type of handling given the fruit and the occurrence of 

 decay and deterioration while in transit and after arrival in market 

 were fully corroborated. 



As in previous years, the investigations included a study of the 

 effects of different methods of handling in picking, packing, and cool- 

 ing, and the effect of delayed shipment was also studied. The inves- 

 tigations of the effects of precooling on table grapes were continued 

 along with the handling experiments. 



In all, 26 experimental series of grapes from Fresno and 54 

 series from Lodi were shipped to New York, where they were care- 

 fully inspected, the percentages of decay and deterioration being 

 determined by weight. Each shipment consisted of a number of 

 packages of grapes picked and packed under ordinary commercial 

 conditions, together with the same fruit carefully picked and han- 

 dled by the bureau workers and packed both in ordinary commercial 

 crates and in boxes with a filler of redwood sawdust. The adapta- 

 bility of redwood sawdust as a substitute for ground cork having 

 been definitely shown by the work of the previous seasons, the use 

 of the cork filler was discontinued. As in past years, portions of 

 each kind of fruit and type of packing were placed on the floor or 

 bottom tier and on the top tier of the load. Inspections in New York 

 were made on arrival and on the third, fifth, and seventh days there- 

 after. 



Again, the beneficial effects of using the redwood sawdust filler 

 were most marked. In both the Malaga shipments from Fresno and 

 the Flame Tokay shipments from Lodi the use of the redwood saw- 

 dust filler reduced the decay and deterioration in transit and on the 

 market to a negligible minimum. In both the carefully handled 

 paclcs in crates from Lodi and Fresno a very definite relation be- 

 tween the type of handling and the occurrence of decay in transit 

 and after arrival in market was shown. The effect of careful han- 

 dling on the behavior of the fruit after it is received in market is 

 of great importance. It is as necessary to have the fruit remain 

 sound long enough after arrival in market to be sold and consumed 

 as it is to have it arrive in sound condition. 



