Ko. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 407 



with them. Besides the legitimate 40 cents storage charge, they 

 always want to make a profit as big as possible and some years 

 doubling their money. One time the storage men by accident froze 

 the top three tiers of barrels over my entire block of apples. The 

 damage was not discovered until I took an out-of-town dealer to 

 look at the apples. The storage man said, "Well, I knew your apples 

 were veiy badly covered with fungus, so I put the temperature 

 down to keep the fungus from spreading." He stopped it. He 

 bought the apples and when lie took them out, said they were the 

 best apples in the storage. 



For some time, I have had an idea of a farmers' storage, but at 

 the present time all the farmers, who were interested and ready 

 to go in, have been bought off with promises or seated out by a mis- 

 representation of conditions. When I began to look up the storage 

 p-roposition, I thought I knew a lot about storage, but it is like mak- 

 ing books, "There is no end." In our section there are two kinds of 

 chemical storages used and each advocate is sure his kind of chem- 

 ical is the only one to use. The ammonia system most generally 

 used has to be pumped at a pressure of 200 to 300 pounds to the 

 square inch, and in case of a leak or break in the pipe has been dis- 

 astrous to the workmen, and in some instances large damages have 

 been obtained against the owners. The next chemical in popularity 

 is carbonic acid gas C02, but it has the disadvantage of requiring 

 a pressure of from 900 to 1,300 p<mnds per square inch. The users 

 of each chemical tell of the dangers of the other kind and the benefits 

 of their particular plants. \>"ith each one it requires a double set 

 of machinery complete in every way to guard against a breakdown 

 and heavy losses; for the storage company is liable for the loss by 

 over cooling or loss from lack of cooling, if you can make out a case, 

 but they will always put up the cry of, "poor stuff" and try to prove 

 that the reason why the fruit did not keep was entirely owing to 

 poor quality. 



The ammonia storage men claim for their system, that if any 

 escapes by a leak or break, the odor is detected instantly and the 

 defect attended to at once. They also claim a cheaper method than 

 ^as to start in with and should a gas system break or leak, there is 

 no way to discover it as the gas is nearly or quite odorless. 



Carbonic acid gas users claim there is less danger to workmen 

 from the gas than from ammonia, and the gas, what little does es- 

 ca])e acts as a preservative and keeps fruit much better than the 

 ammonia system. 



One of the large storages of 80,000 barrels capacity uses carbonic 

 acid gas. This storage is a stock company and the company does 

 nothing but straight storage business, never buying fruit. Their 

 stock has averaged net 20 per cent, profits, besides a surplus since 

 it Avas built, for a period of twelve years. One of the houses using 

 ammonia have paid big dividends since they started, seven or eight 

 years ago, and a retiring partner this year received 200 per cent, 

 lor liis stock. 



The third system of chemical storage for fruit that it adapted 

 to the norlh. is what is known as tlie "Gravity Brine System." Mr. 

 G. Harold Powell, formerly with the U. S. Department of Agricul- 

 ture but now with the Citrus Union of California at a salary for 

 the first year of $10,000, says where natural ice can be secured 



