365 



A PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION AS TO THE 

 CAUSE OF ROTTING OF ORANGES FROM 

 BRAZIL. 



By W. RUSHTON, A.R.C.S., D.I.C., 



Demonstrator in Biology, St Marys Hospital Medical School, Assistant 

 Lecturer in Botany, South-W estern Polytechnic Institute, Chelsea, S.W. 



(With 1 Text-figure.) 



Hitherto, so far as can be ascertained from literature and men 

 of long connection with Brazilian exports, oranges have not been 

 successfully brought over to this country on a large scale in a saleable 

 condition. The flavour and size of these oranges would make them 

 a valuable asset to our table as tbey would arrive in this country at 

 a time (July and August) when supplies from other sources are low. 



The great problem which confronts us however is to get the oranges 

 over in a sound condition, as hitherto every consignment to this country 

 has been more or less rotten. The port of shipment from Brazil is 

 Rio de Janeiro which is about 18 days sea-passage from London, 

 and, allowing several days for packing, etc., an interval of at least 

 three weeks would elapse before their arrival on the London market. 



In beginning investigations it was arranged that a box of 50 oranges 

 should be sent through a large firm of Brazilian fruit-importers to be 

 packed in the following ways: 



4 oranges wrapped in tinfoil; 



4 covered with thin tissue paper and buried in dry sawdust; 



4 in dried banana leaves; 



4 in tissue paper and not buried in sawdust; 



4 subjected to steam for a few seconds, the excess of water drained 

 off and then wrapped in tissue paper; 



The rest unwrapped. 



The various lots were placed in separate boxes and these were then 

 put into one large perfectly closed box. This box during shipment 

 was conveyed as ordinary freight and not in the ship's cooling chambers. 



