LARGE SCALE EXPERIMENTS ON THE PROCESSING OF 

 JAPANESE PERSIMMONS; WITH NOTES ON THE PREPARA- 

 TION OF DRIED PERSIMMONS. 



INTRODUCTION. 



During the seasons of 1907 to 1910, inclusive, experiments on 

 Japanese persimmons were carried on in cooperation with Mr. Taylor 

 and Mr. Fan-child, of the Bureau of Plant Industry. 1 It was found 

 that upon keeping the fruit for several days in an inert gas such as 

 carbon dioxid it becomes nonastringent while remaining firm. Dur- 

 ing the season of 1911 experiments on processing in carbon dioxid 

 were extended to a semicommercial scale in order to determine the 

 value of the method when applied to the commonly grown varieties 

 of Japanese persimmons. 



In the experiments described herein, except when otherwise noted, 

 the persimmons to be processed were placed in large containers of 

 galvanized iron, which were then tightly closed. The air was then 

 displaced by carbon dioxid. When the fruits had become non- 

 astringent they were removed and kept under observation in com- 

 parison with check lots consisting of unprocessed fruits of the same 

 picking, to determine the effect of the treatment on their keeping 

 and shipping qualities. Each variety so treated in Florida was sub- 

 jected to a shipping test, while the persimmons processed by keeping 

 in carbon dioxid at Washington were used in studies on keeping at 

 different temperatures. 



APPARATUS AND METHODS USED IN PROCESSING. 



The apparatus used in processing is shown in figure 1. It con- 

 sisted of tanks of galvanized iron (A), in which the fruit was 

 processed on a large scale, glass desiccators (B), in which a few per- 

 simmons could be treated at a time, and liquefied carbon dioxid in 

 steel cylinders (C). Each of the galvanized iron boxes was 25 inches 

 square and 24 inches high. It was large enough to hold four of the 

 six-basket carriers commonly used in shipping persimmons. The 

 upper edge and cover were so constructed that the box could be 

 closed air-tight by means of clamps. This construction, shown in de- 

 tail at (D), was designed by Mr. S. J. Dennis, of the Bureau of Plant 



i U. S. Dept. Agr., Bureau of Chemistry Bui. 141. 



