18 COLD STORAGE OF THE PEAR AND PEACH. 



if the barrel is used as the selling- package, and the weather is hot, it 

 is a better plan to store the fruit in smaller packages, from which it 

 ma}' be repacked in barrels at the end of the storage season. While 

 this practice is followed in several storage houses, it is not to be 

 encouraged, as the rehandling of the fruit is a disadvantage. Rather 

 the use of the pear box should be encouraged as a more desirable pack- 

 age, both for storage and for commercial purposes. 



The fruit-package question, as it relates to the storage house, may 

 be summed up by stating that fruits like the Bartlett pear and others 

 that ripen quickly and in hot weather may be expected to give best 

 results when stored in small packages. If the storage season does not 

 extend beyond early winter, an open package may be of additional 

 value, though not necessary if the package is small. But fruits like 

 the winter apples and late pears, which ripen in the fall in cool 

 weather and remain in storage for a long period, should be stored in 

 closed packages to prevent wilting. In such cases the disadvantages 

 of a large package, like a barrel, are not likely to be serious. 



THE INFLUENCE OF A WRAPPER ON KEEPING QUALITY. 



The life of a fruit in cold storage is prolonged by the use of a fruit 

 wrapper, and the advantage of the wrapper is more marked as the 

 season progresses. In Plate VII is shown the average quantity of 

 Kieffer pears in imprinted news paper and in parchment wrappers in 

 comparison with the quantity of commercial unwrapped pears in boxes 

 in January. Nearly 50 per cent of the unwrapped fruit had decayed at 

 that time. Early in the season the influence of the wrapper is not so 

 important, but if the fruit is to be stored until late spring the wrapper 

 keeps the fruit tinner and brighter. It prevents the spread of fungus 

 spores from one fruit to another and thereby reduces the amount of 

 decay. It checks the accumulation of mold on the stem and calyx in 

 long-term storage fruits, and in light-colored fruits it prevents bruis- 

 ing and the discoloration that usually follows. 



Careful comparisons have been made of the efficiency of tissue, 

 parchment, imprinted news paper, and waxed papers, and but little 

 practical difference has been observed, except that a large amount of 

 mold has developed on the parchment wrappers in a temperature of 

 36° F. A double wrapper has proved more efficient for long keeping 

 than a single one, and a satisfactory combination consists of an absorb- 

 ent, imprinted news paper next to the fruit, with a more impervious 

 paraffin wrapper outside. 



The chief advantage of the wrapper for the Bartlett pear, which is 

 usually stored for a short time only, lies in the mechanical protection 

 to the fruit rather than in its efficiency in prolonging its season. Its 

 use for this purpose is advisable if the fruit is of superior grade and 



