EXPERIMENTS IN PEAR STORAGE. 17 



five weeks in storage the fruit in the center of the barrel was soft and 

 of no commercial value, while the outside layers were still in good 

 condition. The difference was still greater in a temperature of 36° F., 

 and was more marked in both temperatures in fruit that was delayed 

 in reaching the storage house. 



In both the closed 40-pound boxes and the slat crates the fruit was 

 even greener in average condition than the outside layers in the bar- 

 rels, and it was uniformly firm throughout the entire package. 



There was apparently no difference between the fruit in the com- 

 mercial ventilated pear barrel and the common tight pear barrel. 



With the Kieffer. which enters the storage room in a cooler condi- 

 tion and which ripens more slowly, a comparison has been made 

 (in 1902) between the closed 40-pound box and the barrel, and while 

 the difference has been less marked the fruit has kept distinctly bet- 

 ter in the smaller package. The fruit in barrels was the property 

 of Mr. M. B. Waite, and was under observation by the Department 

 through his courtesy. 



There is a wide difference of opinion concerning the value of venti- 

 lated in comparison with tight packages for storage purposes. No 

 dogmatic statements can be made that will not be subject to many 

 exceptions. The chief advantage of a ventilated package for storage 

 appears to lie in the greater rapidity with which the fruit cools, and 

 the quickness with which this result is attained depends on the tem- 

 perature of the fruit, its bulk, the temperature of the room, and the 

 openness of the package. The open-slat bushel crate, often used for 

 storing Bartlett pears, with which rapid cooling is of fundamental 

 importance, may be of much less value in storing later fruits that 

 are cooler and which ripen more slowly, and it may be of even less 

 importance to Bartletts in cool seasons. 



The ordinary ventilated pear barrel does not appear to have suffi- 

 cient ventilation to cool the large bulk of fruit quickly. 



The open package has several disadvantages. If the fruit is to 

 remain in storage for any length of time its exposure to the air will 

 be followed by wilting, which, in fruits held until late winter or 

 spring, may cause serious commercial injury. The ventilated pack- 

 age, especially if made of slats, needs to be handled with the utmost 

 care to prevent the discoloration of the fruit due to bruising where it 

 conies in contact with the edges of the slats. 



There was little difference in the behavior of the Bartletts in the 

 closed 40-pound boxes and the slat crates at the end of five weeks, and 

 it would appear that a package of this size, even though closed, radi- 

 ates the heat with sufficient rapidity to quickly cheek the. ripening. 

 Therefore the grower who uses the 40-pound or the bushel pear box 

 for commercial purposes can store the fruit safely in this package, but 



26073— No. 40—03 -1 



