346 State Horticultural Society. 



by the St. Joseph Cold Storage Co, They were grown at DeKalb, 

 Mo., were carefully picked after they had become well colored, placed 

 carefully in barrels and not headed. They were hauled on low wagons 

 Avith springs, twenty miles to St. Joseph every day as soon as picked 

 and loaded, and were placed in cold storage without heading up. In 

 March, 1904, these same apples were just as hard, the stems were 

 yet as green, as when picked. In repacking not two per cent were 

 lost. Two hundred barrels were bought from this lot by the Mis- 

 souri State Commission; they were not picked for exhibition nor 

 selected, but just counted as they stood on end in cold storage. In 

 ]^.Tarch, 1904, these apples were double wrapped, first in tissue, then 

 in parchment paper and headed in barrels, the work all being done 

 in the same room in the storage house in which they were kept. 

 They were shipped to St. Louis in iced cars and placed in cold storage 

 and they kept perfectly. And as late as October and November, 1904, 

 they were taken out in fine condition, still firm, juicy, and crisp, and 

 the flavor was pronounced by experts better than the same variety 

 grown that year. This is certainly a revelation beyond what we 

 thought could be done with the Jonathan in keeping, even five years 

 ago. 



It is only since cold storage has come to us that we have rated 

 the Jonathan apple as a winter variety. Not only is this the case 

 with the apple, but with all kinds of fruits. It is but a few years 

 since, if a car of oranges was shipped to this or any other market, 

 the shipper aimed to have his car sold to the dealer as soon as it 

 arrived, and if the dealer held them for only a short time they had to 

 be repacked. Now the dealers buy the same oranges at the same 

 place, and stack them up in their store for months with scarcely any 

 loss. The same is true in regard to our apples. When we first began 

 using cold storage for our apples, the great objection was that they 

 went down so very quickl}^ after being taken out. Now, if apples are 

 properly handled before being taken into cold storage, and then 

 properly handled in cold storage, the keeping qualities of the fruit 

 after they are taken out are very much better than when our apples 

 went into cold storage in a mellow and ripe condition. 



We now have in Kansas City fifty wholesale and jobbing fruit 

 distributing houses. This increase is true not only of Kansas City, 

 but of all American cities, and in many a much greater increase. 

 We have now great cold storage plants, refrigeration in transit, and 

 railroad facilities. And American fruits of all varieties are not only 

 handled in every American city, but in almost every European city on 

 the continent. We now have millions of fruit consumers, using it 



I 



