248 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



THE FRUIT GROWER'S COLD STORAGE PLANT. 



MADISON COOPER, WATERTOWN, N. Y. 



The best results in cold storing fruit are obtained when the fruit 

 is stored as soon as it is removed from the tree. Elaborate exper- 

 iments by the United States Department of Agriculture have dem- 

 onstrated this beyond a doubt. Very little fruit is stored on the 

 farm where produced except in common or cellar storage, because 

 no facilities are at hand for the proper storing of the product. 

 Many individual fruit-growers, gardeners and dairymen are great- 

 ly in need of cold storage facilities and could make a handsome 

 profit above cost of operating such storage. Where the magnitude 

 of the crop does not warrant any single fruit grower to put up his 

 own plant, a co-operative plant could be built which would give 

 all of the benefits of home cold storage and would require a com- 

 paratively small investment for each grower. 



In connection with a co-operative plant it would be practicable 

 to work up a trade direct with the retailers of near-by cities or 

 towns, and by suitable organization and fairly close proximity to 

 customers goods might be sold direct t'o the consumer. This, of 

 course, is another story and is, no doubt, touched on by other pa- 

 pers which will be read before this society. 



Under favorable conditions it has been demonstrated that fruit 

 may be stored in the country at a cost of 10 cents to 15 cents per 

 barrel for the season. This will give the very best cold storage 

 care and will turn out a much finer quality of fruit than will result 

 from storage in frost proof fruit houses or cellars. The common 

 city charge for storage is 40 cents to 50 cents per barrel, and fair 

 profit can therefore be made on storage cost by storing at home. 



A cold storage room is not simply a room with ice in it. In the 

 past this has been the common idea of cold storage, but at pres- 

 ent something else besides a moderately low temperature must be 

 furnished if satisfactory results are to be had. A cold storage room 

 must make the control of temperature, humidity and purity of air 

 possible. To do this the room must be cooled by some means 

 which are under the control of the operator. Cooling a room di- 

 rectly by ice will only produce a temperature of 38°F. to 45°F- 

 under average warm weather conditions. The humidity, or mois- 

 ture, in the air is excessive, and the lower the temperature the great- 

 er the humidity. A temperature of 38° F. and upwards will not 

 give satisfactory results for long period storage. The best storage 

 houses now maintain a temperature of 30° F. for the storage of 

 apples, and at the same time the air must be reasonably dry. This 

 is sufficient reason why any of the old style direct ice cooling sys- 



