Nov. 26, 1921 



Transportatio7i Rots of Stone Fruits 



477 



With all the rots temperature has been an extremely important factor. 

 In the 1 9 19 experiments (Table VI) part of the fruit was stored at 15° C. 

 and part at 5°, with striking contrasts in the results. Rhizopus was en- 

 tirely eliminated at the lower temperature, and Penicillium and Mon- 

 ilia were greatly reduced. Short shipments without refrigeration have 

 resulted in heavy losses, while fresh fruit, both sprayed and unsprayed, 

 has been shipped across the continent in pony refrigerators under ice 

 with no decay upon arrival. Fruit that was free from rot after seven 

 days in the refrigerators became badly decayed after standing one or 

 two days in a warm room, the unsprayed fruit always developing the 

 most rot but the sprayed fruit never remaining free from it. Refrigera- 

 tion is always valuable; but it is evident that its importance increases 

 with any decrease in orchard or packing-house care. 



It is evident that there is a widely distributed responsibility for the 

 occurrence of stone fruit rots in transit and in storage. Orchard spraying 

 may be one of the important factors in the control of Monilia rot on the 



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Fig. 6.— a comparison of the average development of rot on sprayed and misprayed Italian prunes in i: 

 different shipping and storage experiments. 



harvested fruit, but as a protection against Penicillium and Rhizopus 

 rots it has little or no value. 



SUMMARY 



(i) Orchard spraying has reduced the amount of Monilia or brown rot 

 developed on sweet cherries in transportation and storage experiments 

 from 24.3 to 6.4 per cent. All the cherries were from orchards where 

 there was less than i per cent of rot on either the sprayed or unsprayed 

 fruit at picking time. 



(2) In similar shipping and storage experiments with Italian prunes 

 there has been an average of 28 per cent of brown rot on the untreated 

 fruit and 7.1 per cent on the sprayed or dusted fruit. The amount of 

 rot on the unsprayed fruit at picking time was 4.6 per cent and on the 

 sprayed fruit 1.6 per cent. 



(3) About half the brown rot control secured in the shipping tests 

 with prunes and about one-third of that secured with cherries was due 

 to the spray application made three or four weeks before picking time. 



(4) There has been little contrast between the brown rot control 

 secured with sulphur dust and that secured with the standard spray 

 materials. 



(5) Spraying and dusting have had little or no effect upon the develop- 

 ment of Penicillium and Rhizopus rots in transit and storage, their 

 occurrence apparently being much more influenced by the prevalence 

 of bruises and skin punctures. 



(6) The unsprayed fruit has shown a greater need of refrigeration 

 than the sprayed, and the injured fruit a greater need than the sound. 



