Paee JO 



BETTER FRUIT 



Operating Air-Cooled Apple Storage Houses 



By H. J. Ramsey and S. J. Dennis, of the U. S. Department of Agriculture 



PROPERLY grown, matured, and 

 handled fruit can not be held in 

 good condition for the maximum 

 length of time in storage unless it is 

 cooled with some degree of prompt- 

 ness. Neither can it be stored for the 

 maximum length of time unless it is 

 held under favorable storage tempera- 

 tures and conditions. The two factors 

 of promptness of cooling and the 

 maintenance of proper storage tem- 

 peratures are inseparably associated 

 with both the construction and the 

 management of air-cooled storage 

 houses. These are the two factors for 

 which the manager of the storage 



house is primarily responsible. If the 

 grower is also the manager of his 

 own common storage house, full re- 

 sponsibility for the condition of the 

 fruit in storage must necessarily de- 

 volve on him. If, however, the com- 

 mon storage house is managed by an 

 association or by some one other 

 than the grower, the responsibility 

 for the keeping quality rests both 

 with the grower and the storage-house 

 manager. When the apples are grown, 

 harvested, and stored by a single in- 

 dividual, there is no question as to 

 who is responsible for every act that 

 tends to prolong or shorten the life of 



[ This is one of a series ] 



Clean and Safe 



These are requisites in spray materials, 

 They are practical details of manufacture and 

 technique. 



ZENO 



Is clean to handle, safe to apply. 



It will not hurt the hands or face of the operator, 



Nor the skin of horses. 



It has been used for years in parks, 



On tough and tender trees and shrubs, 



Much more difficult to spray than orchards. 



It is used to control scale, aphis, mealy bug, 



Red spider — to clean the tree of black smut, 



Moss and lichen. 



ZENO 



Is an internationally used 



Miscible oil spray, and these are reasons why 



It has proved the best by years of test. 



MANUFACTURED ONLY BY 



Eastbay Chemical Co., Inc. 



(formerly STANDARD CHEMICAL CO.) 



of Emeryville Station [Oakland] California 



T. O. McCLURE. Director of Research 



[Zeno may be had of your local Distributor, Fruit Company, 



Exchange, or by writing to us direct] 



SPOHN & WING, Northwest Agents 



223 Sherlock Building, Portland, Oregon 



September, 1020 



the fruit. If, however, there is a di- 

 vision of labor, one man growing and 

 harvesting and another storing the 

 fruit, then there is always a question 

 as to what may have caused the loss 

 in storage and who was responsible 

 for it. 



Inefficient management of storage 

 houses results usually in the very slow 

 cooling of the fruit and the main- 

 tenance of temperatures anything but 

 desirable. All the money invested in 

 the orchard enterprise and all the 

 care exercised in growing and har- 

 vesting the crop may be wholly 

 wasted by inattention to the details 

 of proper storage-house management. 

 It is therefore evident that if air- 

 cooled storage houses are to be suc- 

 cessfully employed it is essential that 

 proper attention be given to both con- 

 struction and management, in order 

 to preserve the keeping quality that 

 the fruit possesses at the time it is 

 placed in storage. 



The efficiency of a common storage 

 house will depend primarily upon the 

 rapidity which the fruit is cooled and 

 the storage temperatures maintained. 

 A common storage building, there- 

 fore, must necessarily provide for two 

 things — the freest circulation and in- 

 take of cold air during the night or 

 the cooler periods of the day and the 

 conservation of this cold air by clos- 

 ing all hatches and intakes before the 

 outside temperature begins to rise and 

 by preventing the leakage of heat 

 through the walls, floors, and ceilings 

 of the building. For the intake of 

 cold air, openings should be provided 

 at or near the ground or the lower 

 part of the building, while air shafts 

 leading upward from the ceiling of 

 the storage chamber or chambers 

 should be provided to carry off the 

 warm air. To prevent the leakage 

 of heat into the building, the walls, 

 ceilings, and floors must be insulated. 

 As these two factors govern to a con- 

 siderable extent the rapidity of cool- 

 ing and the maintenance of low tem- 

 peratures, the importance of ventila- 

 tion and insulation can hardly be 

 overestimated. No other two factors 

 of construction or operation are of 

 greater importance. Upon these de- 

 pend in the final analysis the success 

 or failure of the common storage 

 house. 



The circulation of air in a common 

 storage house is usually secured 

 through natural ventilation induced 

 by the difference in the weight of air 

 at different temperatures. Air when 

 warm expands and occupies a greater 

 amount of space than when cold. The 

 weight of a cubic foot of warm air is 

 less than the weight of a cubic foot 

 of cold air. When the air inside of 

 the building is warmer than that out- 

 side, the cold outside air. by reason 

 11I' its greater weight, flows in through 

 the openings at the lower part of the 

 building. This incoming colder air 

 pushes out the warmer and lighter air 

 Continued on page 32. 



■ < \!>\ Hi I tSERS M 



BETTER FKE'IT 



