12 COLD STORAGE OF THE PEAR AND PEACH. 



the early varieties, often softens in the center of the package, while 

 the outside layers remain firm and g-reen. Frequently no two ship- 

 ments from the same orchard act alike, even when stored in adjoining- 

 packages in the same room, and the warehouseman and the owner, not 

 always knowing the histoiy of the fruit, are at a loss to understand 

 the difficulty. It has been the aim in the fruit-storage investigations 

 of the Department of Agriculture to determine as far as possible the 

 reasons for some of the pear-storage troubles, and to point out the 

 relation of the results to a more rational storage business. 



OUTLINE OF EXPERIMENTS IN PEAR STORAGE. 



The investigations in pear storage are of a preliminary nature 

 only. The experiments undertaken have been planned with a view to 

 determining the influence in the storage room of various temperatures, 

 of the character of the storage package, of a fruit wrapper, of the 

 degree of maturity of the fruit when picked, and of other factors in 

 relation to the ripening processes in the storage house, and also to 

 ascertain the behavior of the fruit and its value to the consumer when 

 placed on the market. 



The Bartlett and the Kieffer pears principally were used in the experi- 

 ments, but several other kinds have been under limited observation. 

 The Bartlett represents the delicate-fleshed, tender pears, ripening in 

 hot weather, which are withdrawn from storage before the weather 

 becomes cool. The Kieffer, on the other hand, is a coarse, hard pear, 

 ripening later in the fall in cooler weather, and in which the normal 

 ripening processes are slower. It is a longer keeper, and like other 

 fall varieties is withdrawn in cool weather. 



The Bartlett experiments extended through the season of 1902. 

 The fruit was grown bv Mr. F. L. Bradley, Barker, N. Y., in a twelve- 

 year-old orchard on a sand}- loam, with a clay subsoil. The orchard 

 is a half mile from Lake Ontario and is 5<> feet above the level of the 

 lake. The fruit, which was full grown, but green, was picked early in 

 September, and was packed in tight and ventilated barrels, in 40-pound 

 closed boxes, and in slat bushel crates. Part of the fruit in each lot 

 was wrapped in imprinted news paper, and an equal amount was left 

 unwrapped. Part was forwarded at once by trolley line to the ware- 

 house of the Buffalo Cold Storage Company at Buffalo, N. Y., and a 

 similar quantity was held four days before being stored. The fruit 

 reached the storage house within ten hours after leaving the orchard. 



The Kieffer experiments have extended .over two years. In 1901 

 the fruit was grown by Mr. M. B. AVaite, Woodwardsville, Md.. in a 

 Norfolk sandy soil, on rapidly growing five-year-old trees, from which 

 the fruit was large, coarse, and of poor quality. It was stored in the cold- 

 storage department of the Center Market at Washington,!). C. In 



