236 



Journal of Agricultural Research 



Vol. xvin, No. 4 



effects might possibly be attributed to the influence upon humidity; 

 but the results as a whole require a different explanation. As was 

 pointed out earlier in the paper (p. 216) it seems practically certain that 

 the beneficial effects, particularly of the waxes, fats, and oils, are due 

 to their power of absorbing esters or other similar products thrown off 

 in gaseous form by the apple. 



Table XVII. — Apple mrappers in commercial barrel storage 



Kind of wrapper. 



Percentage of scald. 



Wrapped. 



Not 

 wrapped. 



Next 

 layer to 

 wrapped 

 apples. 



York Imperial. 



Wrapped. 



Not 

 wrapped. 



Next 

 layer to 

 wrapped 



apples. 



None, control barrels 



Commercial , no wax or oil 



Paraffin A 



Paraffin B 



Paraffin C 



Beeswax 30 per cent, vaselin 



70 per cent 



Beeswax" 30 per cent, oilve oil 



70 per cent 



Cacoa butter 70 per cent, olive 



oil 30 per cent 



Mineral oil 



38 



27 

 18 

 15 

 23 



30 

 33 

 23 

 32 



23 



33 



32 

 18 



28 



35 

 10 

 20 



40 



30 

 30 

 30 



35 

 18 



The results furnish some very interesting contrasts. In most tests 

 the commercial wrappers caused little or no reduction in scald, and the 

 paraffin wrappers were but little better, while nearly all the other wrappers 

 caused a decided decrease in the disease. Particularly good results 

 were obtained with fats like cow butter and tallow and with neat's 

 foot oil and mineral oils. It should be noted that there is a close cor- 

 relation between the ability of the various substances to control apple- 

 scald and their capacity for absorbing gases. 



A very significant point is brought out in Table XVI I in the extension 

 of the scald reduction to the apples that were adjacent to the wrapped 

 ones. With some of the more efficient wrappers the scald on the contig- 

 uous fruit was reduced to less than one-half of that on the fruit in other 

 barrels or in the distant parts of the same barrel. In most cases this 

 effect extended only to apples actually in contact with the wrapped 

 apples, but with the olive and mineral oil wrappers there was an evident 

 decrease in scald at a distance of several layers from the wrapped fruit. 

 These results can hardly be explained by any other theory than that 

 the good effects of the wrappers are largely due to the gas-absorbing 

 capacity of the fats and oils they contain. 



