44 EXPERIMENT STATION EECOKD. 



Stood by firowors and loickots, and a dcteriiiincd rfloit is l)eing made to retluco 

 the trouble. Abundant data have been accumulated to show that with care 

 in instruction and suiiervislon of labor not more than 2 or 3 per cent of the 

 oranjies will be injured in handling; tlie fruit on a large commercial scale. 



Witii the oranges handled in dillerent ways and lield in the iiacking houses 

 in California for about '2 weeks previous to sliipment, the work of the ;> years 

 from the standpoint of the packing house shows that the least decay develops 

 in sound unbrushed fruit. Brushing increases decay and washing increases 

 it still more. The greatest decay develops in mechanically injured oranges. 

 Little difference was noted in the amount of decay in oranges grown in differ- 

 ent sections and handled in the same manner or in oianges picked from the 

 same grove with e(|ual care at difterent periods from .January to May. Curing 

 the orange for a few days before packing wilts the skin and in the early part 

 of the season renders it more pliable. While this process is probably not harm- 

 ful to uninjured fruit, the blue mold begins to develop more or less in the 

 injured oranges during the curing period, according to the severity of the injury. 

 When fruit is packed promptly after picking and shipped at once in a cool 

 temperature the decay may not develop in transit. Brushing so large a pro- 

 portion of the oranges as has been the custom is found to be unnecessary, and 

 washing can be avoided by treating the groves properly for scale. 



Two hundred and ninety-seven shipments of fruit were made to New York 

 during the last .•> years. Relative to the handling of the fruit, the least decay 

 has developed under all methods of shipment in the sound, carefully handled 

 oranges, and the greatest amount in those mechanically injured. With regard 

 to promptness of shipment after packing, the decay has increased proiiortionately 

 with delay in shipment. As to the method of shipment the least decay devel- 

 oped in i>recooled fruit that was loaded in the cars in cold condition. When 

 the fruit is cooled to a temperature of about 40° F. before shipment less re-icing 

 is required en route. The boxes may also be loaded more closely than is safe 

 under regular icing. Precooling retards decay temi»orarily but does not remove 

 the cause. Decay can be avoided by handling the fruit carefully. In the 

 market-holding tests the greatest loss occurred in mechanically injured oranges. 



The temperature of the fruit was found to change slowly in transit. *' In 

 ventilated cars there may be extreme changes in the outside air, and if the 

 extremes do not persist long the changes in the temperature of the fruit are 

 relatively slow. In iced cars the temperature falls relatively fast during the 

 first few days, but a train may cover one-third of the trip across the continent 

 before the temperature of the fruit reaches 50° F. The decay develops rapidly 

 during the early part of the trip, while the fruit is warm. In a car in which 

 the fruit is cooled to 40° F. or lower before shipment the temperature remains 

 nearly constant if the car is re-iced regularly in transit. In cool weather it 

 remains fairly constant without additional icing after the car leaves California. 

 In warm weather the re-icing during the first half of the trip can be avoided, 

 but the car may need re-icing during the latter half of the trip." 



Nomenclature of the pear; a catalogue-index of the known varieties 

 referred to in American publications from 1804 to 1907, W. H. Ragan 

 {U. 8. Dept. Affi:. Bur. Plant Indus. Bui. lid, pp. 268).— This bulletin is similar 

 in its scope to the Nomenclature of the Apple (E. S. R., 16, p. 777) and is offered 

 as the second of a contemplated series in which it is hoped to publish the 

 names of all the cultivated fruits. The data collected are based on a careful 

 study of the American literature of the pear, extending back to and including 

 the publication of the Domestic Encyclopedia in 1804. The code of nomencla- 

 ture of the American Pomological Society has been followed in the naming of 

 the varieties. 



