48 Third Annual Report 



COLD STORAGE AND MARKETING OF FRUITS. 



BY JOHN W. CLARK, NORTH llADLtY, MASS. 



The use of specially constructed houses in which the tem- 

 perature can he controlled by artificial means for the preserva- 

 tion of farm products dates back scarcely a score of years. Yet 

 so rapid has been its adoption that now there is scarcely a city of 

 any considerable size but has its cold storage plant. 



As most of these cold storage plants are too complicated and 

 costly for the use of the majority of fruit growers I will not 

 take time to go into the details of their construction and manage- 

 ment but confine myself to the style of house within the reach of 

 those who make apple growing one of the principal branches 

 of their farming operations. 



A house for storing fruit should be so constructed that the 

 variations of the outside temperature does not materially affect 

 the inside of the house. To accomplish this the walls should 

 contain closed or dead air spaces sufficient in number to over- 

 come the extremes of temperature to which it is to be exposed. 



The house which I have was built in 1898. It is 32 x 42 

 ft. with 7 ft. posts and 2x4 inch studding between. The out- 

 side of the building is covered with novelty siding. Building 

 paper is put between the studding and then it is boarded with 

 matched pine which is in turn papered and 2x4 inch studding 

 put up and boarded. The four inch space made by this boarding- 

 is filled with charcoal dust and the boarding covered with paper, 

 after which another dead air space is constructed. This makes 

 a wall about 16 inches thick with three four-inch air spaces, the 

 middle one of which is filled with charcoal dust. 



The foundation of the house is of stone with six courses of 

 brick for underpinning. Under the roof, above the main part of 

 the building is an ice chamber 6x9 feet running the whole 

 lensfth of the house. The floor of the ice chamber is covered 

 with galvanized iron and inclined one inch to carry the water 

 from the melting ice into a gutter from which it is carried by 

 waste pipes into a tile drain in the ground. Extending the 

 whole length of the ice chamber on each side is an open space 

 fifteen inches wide connecting the ice chamber with the storage 

 room below for the circulation of air between the tw^o. In each 

 end of the ice chamber are double doors for putting in ice which 

 is stored in an icehouse near the rear end of the main building. 



Icing — The ice is drawn up to the ice chamber by a horse 

 and pulleys. About two hundred twenty-inch cakes are used in 



