12 



PROCESSING OF JAPANESE PERSIMMONS. 



EXPERIMENTS AT GLEN ST. MARY, FLA. 



At Glen St. Mary the processing tanks were filled on September 20 

 with Costata and Tane-nashi. Costata required four days, while Tane- 

 nashi processed slowly, requiring seven days before the fruit became 

 edible. During this time at least one-third of the control Tane-nashi 

 had softened. For several reasons an exact count of the controls was 

 not made. The processed Costata and Tane-nashi were sent to 

 Washington, D. C., by express on September 27, together with the 

 firm specimens of their controls. The fruit was kept at about 60 F. 

 after its arrival in Washington until October 3, when it was examined. 



Costata. The processed fruits had softened much more than the 

 controls and had darkened somewhat, so that they were hardly mar- 

 ketable. The controls shipped successfully. 



Tane-nashi. The processed fruit was found to be in good condition 

 on examination in Washington and the unprocessed fruit also stood 

 the transportation excellently. In the following table are shown the 

 percentages of softened fruits when first examined, and two and four 

 days later. 



TABLE III. Rate of softening of processed Tane-nashi persimmons shipped to Washing- 

 ton after processing at Glen St. Mary and kept at a temperature of about 69 F. 



In this instance it will be noted that the processed fruit is not com- 

 pared with the original control, but with the fruits of the control which 

 were firm on September 27. A distinct effect of the processing in 

 hastening the rate of softening of the persimmons is evident. 



EXPERIMENTS AT WASHINGTON, D. C. 



Four varieties were processed at Washington. These were Hachiya 

 and Taber's 23, from Mr. Macklin at Dinsmore, Fla. ; Zengi, from the 

 Grifnng Bros. Co. at Macclenny; and Tane-nashi, from the Glen St. 

 Mary Nurseries Co. 



Hachiya. Eighteen large, evenly ripened fruits were received on 

 October 5. Nine were placed in carbon dioxid in desiccators, while 

 the remainder served as checks. Ten days were required for process- 

 ing at an average laboratory temperature of about 69 F. Six days 

 later all of the processed fruits were softening, while three of the con- 

 trols still remained firm. The processed fruits gradually darkened 



