150 Strawberry-Growing 



Refrigerators. 



The most elaborate and expensive strawberry package 

 is the refrigerator box or chest. Refrigerators holding 

 from 32 to 640 quarts of berries and a small quantity of ice 

 were used before 1880 at Charleston, South Carolina, and 

 in Florida. The early experiments with refrigerators 

 by Parker Earle of Cobden, Illinois, are detailed elsewhere.^ 

 The chief objection to the very large refrigerators was their 

 ponderous weight. Small chests were likely to be thrown, 

 bottom side up, in the express car and did not hold enough 

 ice. The early styles had a narrow, upright receptacle 

 for ice, forming a partition through the center of the box. 

 In all later patents the ice pan covers the entire top. All 

 the berries are cooled evenly, since the cold air near the ice 

 settles to the bottom (Plate XIV) . Modern refrigerators 

 are square. The ice pan is of galvanized iron, and occupies 

 about one-third of the inside space. There is a ventilator 

 flue of the same material through the middle. The tiers 

 of boxes are separated by division slats. Practically all 

 refrigerators in use now hold either sixty-four or eighty 

 quarts of berries. The eighty quart size, with five tiers 

 of boxes, is used more commonly than the sixty-four quart 

 size with four tiers. The eighty quart size requires 175 

 pounds of ice; the sixty-four quart size, 100 pounds. 

 When full of berries and ice the former weighs 250 pounds, 

 the latter 225 pounds. Before the berries are put into 

 the refrigerator they are cooled by placing them in a shady 

 place, or in a cooling room. After the chest has been 

 filled and iced, it is removed to a cool place to reduce the 

 temperature of the fruit before it is shipped. The ice pan 

 is replenished just before the refrigerator is placed upon 

 the train. 



1 "The Strawberry in North America," Chapter III. 



