Page 6 



BETTER FRUIT 



July, ipip 



Air intake on an above ground storage. Surh 

 an intake, opening directly into a basement, is 

 improperly situated for most efficient cooling. 



ing such a system of ventilators the 

 house is equipped with the cooling 

 machinery. Tiie efficiency of this ma- 

 chinery will depend upon the methods 

 of operation, as we shall see subse- 

 quently. Most air-cooled houses are too 

 dry for the best results. Tests of meth- 

 ods of adding moisture to the air are 

 now under way, but as yet the easiest 

 and most practical plan is to wet the 

 dirt floor and walls of the house thor- 

 oughly each fall before putting in the 

 fruit. This may be repeated to some 

 extent during the storage season. 



The general size, arrangement and 

 construction of the walls will depend 

 upon the grower's particular needs and 

 the amount of capital to be invested. 

 Rooms for the combined use of storage 

 and packing are undesirable. The pack- 

 ing room may be adjoining the storage 

 room, or, in basement storages, the 

 packing room is generally on the upper 

 floor. Basements are more difFicult to 

 ventilate and cool than above-ground 

 storages, although after once thorough- 

 ly cooled they generally maintain a 

 more uniform temperature. In a base- 

 ment house it is necessary to pipe the 

 cold air down beneath the outside level 

 in order that it may be delivered under 

 the open base floor. The outlet air 

 shafts in this case must also extend 

 down through the room above the 

 basement. 



The walls of the house may be con- 

 structed of frame, tile, brick or con- 

 crete. In some sections storage-house 

 walls are built of adobe brick. In se- 

 lecting material and in the construction 

 of the wall it should be remembered 



that the wall is not only for the purpose 

 of keeping out low temperatures in 

 winter but it should keep out higli tem- 

 peratures in the early fall and late 

 spring. To protect the stored fruit from 

 injurious temperatures, extremely high 

 and extremely low, the walls should be 

 insulated. Cork, mineral wool and 

 quilting are materials offered for this 

 purpose, although all of them are ex- 

 pensive. For frame constructed houses 

 and buildings with wooden linings, dry 

 mill shavings, where they can be se- 

 cured, furnish a cheap and very efficient 

 insulation. Doors and windows and the 

 frames surrounding them should so fit 

 as to be practically air tight else a well 

 insulated wall will prove of little value. 

 If storage-room windows are necessary, 

 they should be fitted with double sash 

 and wooden shutters. The doors should 

 be of the refrigerator type. During the 

 early part of the season when it is ad- 

 visable to have these doors open at 

 night a light slat door to keep out in- 

 truders is desirable. 



In the above-ground type of house it 

 is well to provide some means of in- 



Air intake to a basement storage where the air 

 duct is built on the outside. Such openings 

 should be fitted with airtight doors and be 

 located about fifteen feet apart on the sides 

 and ends of the house. 



Open false floor made of 2x4 or 2x6 material 



spaced one-half inch or more apart, enabling 



the cold air taken in underneatli the fruit to 



cool it more rapidly. 



sulating the ceiling. The roof is prob- 

 ably the warmest part of the building, 

 and unless filled with shavings or in- 

 sulated in some way is a weak part of a 

 good storage. A light-colored roofing 

 material such as white asbestos will be 

 of considerable advantage in reflecting 

 the sun's rays. 



With ample means provided for ven- 

 tilation or cooling the house; with 

 walls, ceiling and other parts con- 

 structed to hold a uniform temperature, 

 the final success of the house depends 

 upon its management. A house built of 

 the best materials and constructed 

 along proper lines is of little value un- 

 less it is properly operated. Instances 

 in no small number could be cited to 

 prove that this is true. It is believed 

 that it can be stated with p'erfect safety 

 that less than one house out of ten is 

 properly operated for the most efficient 

 results. In numerous cases houses go 

 through the season with only a pretense 

 of management: a window is occasion- 

 ally opened for a little fresh air or an 

 oil stove is put in when the temperature 

 reaches the danger point during the 

 winter. 



Efficient management of a cold stor- 

 age for the best keeping quality of 

 apples requires an immediate and uni- 



Packing room above, with storage below. The 

 air intakes to the basement (where the shutters 

 are lifted) are sufficiently large. The small 

 outlet flues in the crown of the roof are en- 

 tirely inadequate. 



form temperature of from 30 to 32 

 degrees. Efficient management of an 

 air-cooled storage requires a consistent 

 and continuous effort to approximate 

 these conditions. The sooner the tem- 

 perature in the storage room can be 

 brought to 32 degrees, the longer and 

 better the fruit will keep. There is no 

 desire to intimate that air-cooled stor- 

 ages are equal to cold storages for long 

 keeping, for this is not the case. How- 

 ever, with proper management in order 

 to reduce the temperature earlier in the 

 fall and to hold it near the freezing 

 point throughout the winter, quite dif- 

 ferent results will be obtained than 

 those generally secured. This statement 

 is made after observing fruit and keep- 

 ing many records in houses of various 

 growers. Good methods and good keep- 

 ing quality go hand in hand. 



One or more accurate thermometers 

 are essential for the successful manage- 

 ment of a storage house. They should 

 be tested at 32 degrees in crushed ice to 

 see if they record the proper tempera- 

 ture. Place these thermometers in dif- 

 ferent parts of the house and consult 

 them once or twice daily — not to see 

 how cold the house is but to see how 

 hot it is. Whenever the temperature of 

 the house becomes warmer than the air 

 outside, turn on all drafts, open the 

 ventilators, both top and bottom, and 

 allow as much air to pass through the 

 house as possible. As soon as these 

 temperature conditions change close all 

 the ventilators and allow no warm air 

 to enter. As a general rule, to follow 

 these instructions means that early in 



A three-story packing and storage house. The 

 packing room containing the windows is en- 

 tirely separate from the storage, a very desir- 

 able feature. The air intakes are located under 

 the loading platform. Note the two large out- 

 let flues. 



