STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



39 



The cold storage business has developed largely within the last 

 15 years, and in its broadest economic relation, it is destined to 

 equalize the distribution of fruits, and to increase the demand 

 for them both in domestic and foreign markets. It holds the 

 same relation to the fruit industry that the great railroads bear 

 to the older industries, such as grain, cotton and tobacco. Accu- 

 rate statistics concerning the magnitude of the cold storage 

 warehousing business are difficult to obtain, but it is probable 

 that there are not less than 600 houses distributed throughout 

 the country that are devoted in a greater or less degree to fruit 

 storage. 



The following figures represent the number of barrels of 

 apples held in the United States in cold storage about December 

 1st of each year since 1898, and give a conception of the magni- 

 tude and growth of the apple storage business as a whole : 



APPLES IN STORAGE ABOUT DECEMBER 1,1898-1902. 



There are many practical difficulties in the cold storage of 

 apples and these difficulties arise through lack of information 

 concerning the principles which govern the production of the 

 fruit in the orchard and the effect of various conditions of 

 growth, of the different commercial methods of liandling the 

 crop in the orchard and in transit, and the treatment of the fruit 

 during transportation and storage, on its vital processes. This 

 condition leads to frequent misunderstandings between the ware- 

 houseman, the fruit grower, and fruit handler which might be 

 avoided and the condition of the fruit storage business improved 

 if there was a clear understanding of the principles of fruit 

 growing in their relation to the ultimate keeping quality of the 

 fruit itself. 



The United States Department of Agriculture has been 

 investigating many of these problems during the last two years, 



