58 



shipped at once to the market in iced cars prior refrigeration by the circulation of 

 cold-air currents is most desirable. This process, sometimes called pre-cooling, 

 has been experimented with and shown to be a success. The object thus achieved 

 is to remove the warm conditions under which decay thrives, and to prevent the 

 fruiting of fungi, with subsequent spread of the disease. 



To insure quality, for fruit does not improve in market grade in cold storage, 

 careful packing, with rigid exclusion of diseased, bruised and wormy fruit, is most 

 essential. If the fruit can be placed in really cold storage it need not, and should 

 not, be packed till mature and well coloured. Fancy fruit may be picked as it 

 ripens, as many specialists already do. Packing and grading are best done as soon 

 as the fruit is picked. The prevalent practice of repacking in frost-proof ware- 

 houses owned by buyers results in heavy losses from rot in the delay before re- 

 packing, and from bruising of the ripened and softened fruit. According to the 

 Cold Storage Commissioner, " The shriukage in repacking is a direct loss amounting 

 to a very large sum." Delay in cooling was observed last fall to result in a loss of 

 about sixty barrels of Russets out of 150 stored for some three weeks before re- 

 packing. This fruit was held at out-door temperatures in a frost-proof storage in 

 tightly closed barrels, just as picked from the tree. 



Early, delicate or very fancy fruit may be packed best in small, easily-ventilated 

 packages. Prof. Reynolds, Ontario Agricultural College, has shown that apples 

 packed in fifty-pound boxes cooled more quickly than similar fruit in barrel quan- 

 tities. G. T. Powell states, "It is of the greatest importance that the fruit be 

 stored immediately after picking, if the weather be warm, in order to insure it 

 against the unusual development of the fungous rots." He finds that " A delay 

 of two weeks before storing (in the cold) caused a loss from decay or scald of from 

 forty to seventy per cent." One has noted that fruit, notably Fameuse, picked 

 while wet, and " headed up " in the barrels still damp, developed a disease called 

 by some packers " ink spot." The bright red coat of the fruit must be culled out. 

 Packages, however, in storage, should be well closed to avoid wilting by evapora- 

 tion. 



For the purposes of the average householder and small orchard owner the 

 winter climate of this Province affords proper temperatures -for storage in frost- 

 proof cellars, root-houses, or preferably in a dry fruit room above ground level. 

 Proper ventilation at night in the fall months should enable the small buyer to 

 take advantage of the lower price and larger choice of rot-free fruit in the autumn. 

 Only the best grades should be purchased. 



The growers for commercial purposes should keep their crop in low tempera- 

 tures under control if the late winter and spring market is to be supplied. They 

 will be able, by rapid cooling and storage at a temperature of 31 .to 33 degrees 



