No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 599 



The comparative value of a large number of varieties of apples from 

 different apple districts has been studied for the past four years 

 with a view to determining their relative fitness for storage. 



During the past year a special study of farm storage houses has 

 been inaugurated and will be continued for a sufficient time to 

 obtain light on the relative efficiency and economy of farm storage 

 houses cooled with ice, ice and salt, brine cooled with ice and salt, 

 and mechanical refrigeration in eastern New York. It is believed 

 that in certain parts of the North a distinct advance in fruit storage 

 can be made through the utilization of properly constructed storage 

 houses where the fruit can be held by the owner in first class con- 

 dition for use as needed by his markets, at less risk and expense 

 than are involved in storage in a plant outside of his personal obser 

 vation and control. 



The practicability of freezing small fruits for use by bakers and 

 confectioners in flavoring ice creams, sherbets, etc., and for use in 

 pies is also being investigated. Such quickly perishable fruits as 

 strawberries and raspberries, which can only be held in good con- 

 dition in ordinary storage for a very few days are found to be 

 preserved in practically perfect flavor and condition for several 

 months by freezing quickly before they are overripe. This new 

 phase of the cold storage business is already becoming of large 

 commercial importance in some of the larger cities. 



FRUIT TRANSPORTATION. 



For some time past the conditions directly concerned in fruit 

 transportation have been under investigation, and these have now 

 assumed such importance that they are being given special atten- 

 tion. The behavior of peaches in refrigerator cars as shipped from 

 Georgia and California is being thoroughly investigated, both at 

 shipping point, in transit and at destination. In this connection, 

 thorough tests of the precooling of fruit intended for such shipment 

 are being made. In the case of peaches in Georgia it has been found 

 that a large part of the rot in transit to northern cities occurs in 

 the two upper tiers of carriers in the car, the three lower tiers 

 arriving at destination in sound condition. This unequal condition 

 is unquestionabh T due to the very rapid cooling of the fruit in the 

 bottom of the car and emphasizes a conclusion previously reached 

 in these investigations that quick cooling after picking is a funda- 

 mental requirement in successful cold storage or shipping opera- 

 tions. In both Georgia and California the preliminary work along 

 this line has been done in refrigerator cars on track which were 

 equipped as stationery refrigerators in which the fruit could be 

 quickly reduced from the temperature of the outside air to about 

 40 degrees F. by the use of ice and salt. Fruit cooled in this way, 

 before being loaded into the cars for shipment, was found to arrive 

 at destination in much better condition and to remain sound longer 

 after arrival at destination than that shipped under ordinary icing, 

 even where well ripened fruit was used in the precooling tests and 

 prematurely picked hard fruit for the ordinary shipmenls. 



This line of work, of course, involves a radical change in some oC 

 the present commercial methods of shipping, and further tests are 

 needed before investments in precooling plants could safely be made. 



