19 1 5 



BETTER FRUIT 



Page /p 



Some Results of the Apple Storage Investigation by U. S. 



E. L. Markcll, United States Department of Agrieulture, Washington, D. C. 



THE problem of fruit storage would 

 be much simplified if the theory 

 held by one of the darkeys work- 

 ing in the government precooling plant 

 in Florida were correct. "What's all 

 dis here machinery, Sam?" one of his 

 friends asked him. "Why, dat's de guv- 

 er'ment embalming plant," was the an- 

 swer. "You puts de oranges in dcre 

 an' dey keeps forever." Unfortunately 

 storage of every type has its limitations, 

 and so far no fruit has been discovered 

 which keeps forever. Exceptional in- 

 stances do occur — one is continually 

 meeting the grower who overlooked 

 one box of apples in the storage house 

 and found four-fifths of them in good 

 condition the following August, and the 

 other grower, some of whose Jonathans 



kept perfectly in his cellar until June. 

 Such exceptions are interesting, but 

 they merely serve to emphasize the fact 

 that what the practical grower is con- 

 cerned with is the rule of the average, 

 the normal result in the greatest possi- 

 ble number of cases of fruit storage on 

 a commercial scale. It is to determine 

 the normal average results of storage 

 from the behavior of apples of the 

 chief commercial varieties grown in the 

 Northwest, picked and stored under 

 difl'erent conditions, that the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture has been conduct- 

 ing these experiments for the past four 

 years. 



The apple is an organism, and like 

 every living thing has a definite length 

 of life. Favorable or unfavorable con- 



Lime Sulphur 

 Lead Arsenate 

 Bordeaux Paste 

 Spra-Sulphur 



The most serious pests and diseases doing the most dam- 

 age to trees in the Northwest are San Jose Scale and Anthrac- 

 nose. The ones doing the most damage to crops and causing 

 a loss of millions annually to fruit growers, are Codling Moth 

 and Scab. 



Growers Must Have Sprays that are Efficient 



We make the above sprays of the highest degree of effi- 

 ciency and sell at reasonable prices. 



Clean crops are necessary if you expect to sell your apples 

 at good prices. 



Use Our Sprays and Grow Clean Fruit 



Factory at Clackamas, Oregon. 

 New factory being built at Hood River, Oregon. 



For the present direct all correspondence to 



Oregon Arsenical Spray Co. 



CLACKAMAS, OREGON 



One Barrel oy'Scalecide" 



Will^Spraiy as m&ny Trees a&Three Barrels o/^ 

 ' .Lime Sulfur 



Scalecide" has 

 greater iDvieorating effect 

 on your orchard — ki Us more scale, eggs 

 and larvae of insects with half the labor to 

 apply. We can back up this statement with facts 

 concerning the Good Results from Usi'm 



"SCALECIDE" 



Send (or our i11ii<;tratcd booklet— "Proof oi The I'u'ldine". Tells liow "Scalecide" 

 Cottonv Maple Scale. Pear Psvlla. I-enf Roller. 01c. . wilhoul injury to the trees. 



LIME 



iULFUR 



LIME 



SULFUR 



LIME. 



SULFUR 



II positively destroy s.ui jose and 



Write today for this t-Khli book and 



Le.irn the dollars and cents value oi "Scalecide. The Tree Saver". 



also our booklet — "Spraying Simplified". 



Our Service Department can furnish everything you need for 



the orchard at prices which save you money. Tell us your needs. 



B. G. PRATT CO., M'f g Chemists Dept. D SO Church St., New York 



ditions may increase or decrease the 

 normal existence of tlie apple, exactly 

 as tliey influence otiicr forms of living 

 organic matter. Centenarians among 

 men have their counterparts in cen- 

 tcnaiians among apples, but these ex- 

 ceptions do not prove that all apples 

 are capable of such prolonged exist- 

 ence. To secure the maximum length 

 of life for his fruit the grower must 

 determine the conditions most favor- 

 able for its preservation. 



Dui-ing its growing period, the apple 

 stores within itself food material that 

 is capable of preserving its life for a 

 considerable length of time after its 

 removal from the tree. These food 

 products are mainly starches and 

 sugars, and by the chemical changes 

 which occur in the apple during the 

 ripening process the starches are 

 changed into sugars, and the sugars 

 gradually break up into simpler com- 

 pounds. The nb.ject of storage is to 

 postpone the final breakdown or death 

 of the fruit by checking these develop- 

 ing processes. Thus the fruit secures 

 the maximum length of life as well as 

 full development. 



Much, however, depends upon the 

 fruit itself. The comlititin of the fruit 

 at the time of picking is a controlling 

 factor. It is a common fallacy to 

 imagine that the greener the apple the 

 better its chances of keeping. A green 

 apple is usually immature and the food 

 stored within it has not reached the 

 stage at which it can be utilized by the 

 fruit after it is picked. In consequence 

 green apples fail to become mellow, 

 but shrivel, while the flesh remains 

 hard and insipid. Immature fruit is 

 also found to be more susceptible to 

 diseases. The skin in particular is 

 more subejct to scald than that of ma- 

 ture fi'uit of the same vai'iety. The 

 final death of fruit picked while imma- 

 ture comes more quickly than in the 

 case of that picked at matuiity. The 

 work of the Department of Agi-iculture 

 has clearly demonstrated the impor- 

 tance of picking the fiuit at the proper 

 stage. The most striking example of 

 the effect of the degree of maturity at 

 picking time on the keepin.g i|ualily of 

 the fruit is biought out in the case of 

 Home Beauty apple, which the follow- 

 ing table illustrates: 



ROME BE.\l'TY. 

 M.\TURE VS. IMMATURE FRUIT. 

 Per cent bad scald and decay at withdrawal 

 from storage, and after a lloldiiis period of 

 ten days under niarliet conditions. Tlirce-year 

 average. Time in storage at first withdrawal, 

 none to three and one-half innnths. 



The table shows the results at four 

 witlicliawals from storage in .lanuary, 



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