Aug. i6, 1920 Ripening and Storage of Bartlett Pears 479 



season. Fruit picked August 23 was representative of the late ship- 

 ments. Because of trouble from the fruit breaking down while in 

 transit in former years, shippers from this section endeavored to reduce 

 the later shipments to a minimum, and much of the late fruit was mar- 

 keted through the canneries. This accounts for the relatively short 

 shipping season in this section. 



The fruit was picked, packed, and shipped by express to the labora- 

 tory at Watsonville, Calif. Fruit from Suisun usually arrived in i 

 day, from Sacramento in iX days, from Medford, Oreg., in 2 days, 

 and from Selah, Wash., in 4 days. Consequently, a somewhat longer 

 time elapsed between the time of picking and time of storing the Wash- 

 ington pears than was the case with other districts. 



As soon as the fruit arrived at the laboratory, each picking was 

 divided into four lots. One lot was sampled for immediate analysis, 

 while the remaining three were placed in storage until ripe. One of 

 these was held at from 65° to 70° F., approaching the temperature at 

 which pears ripen most quickly. One was stored at a fluctuating tem- 

 perature of 34° to 50°, averaging a little above 40°. This is not far 

 from representative of conditions in an iced refrigerator car in transit, 

 although at a slightly lower temperature. The third lot was held at 

 a temperature ranging from 28° to 32° and representing about the 

 minimum temperature at which the pears could be held without the 

 formation of ice in the fruit. The average temperature was slightly 

 below 30°, though some of the time it was down to 28°, with no appar- 

 ent bad results. It was impossible to allow the fruit to reach full 

 maturity in this storage because of the length of time it would require, 

 so part of all lots was removed October 14, after being from iX to 3^ 

 months in storage. It was allowed to ripen at laboratory temperature 

 and was analyzed. 



In this way it has been possible to get a comparison between fruit 

 when it is fresh picked from the tree and the same lot of fruit when ripened 

 at temperatures approximating jo°, 40°, and 30° F. In planning the 

 work it was not the thought to develop the storage phase primarily, 

 but it has been possible to compare the length of the storage season with 

 results attained by other investigators. 



ANAIvYTICAL METHODS 



Sampling. — A sample comprising portions of 15 pears was used for each 

 lot. The fruit was first halved longitudinally and then a section from two 

 opposite sides was removed, the cut being made from the core outward so 

 that a fair proportion of the tissue from all the different regions of the fruit 

 was secured. Any adhering portions of core were removed, and the peel 

 was taken off with as little of the fleshy portion as possible. Sections 

 of sufficient size were taken from each of the 1 5 pears to make a composite 

 sample of over 300 gm. 



