48 



STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 



AMOUNT OF DECAY AFTER REMOVAL FROM STORAGE TO DIFFERENT 



TEMPERATURES. 



THE IMPORTANCE OF GOOD FRUIT. 



Apples do not improve in grade in cold storage. In handling 

 a crop, too much care can not be given to grading the fruit prop- 

 erly before it enters the storage house. The contents of many 

 packages are injured by the spread of disease from a few 

 imperfect apples. Rots enter the fruit most easily wherever the 

 skin is bruised or broken, and in the early stages of the rot 

 development it is common to see the diseases manifesting them- 

 selves around worm holes or bruises occasioned by rough hand- 

 ling, from nails that protrude through the barrels, or from other 

 causes. 



W'lien the crop is light it may pay to store apples that are 

 not of the first grade, but such fruit should be rigidly eliminated 

 from the best stock and stored where it can be removed earlier 

 in the season tlian the better qualities. 



The attractiveness and the value of the best fruit is often 

 injured by careless handling. A bruised spot dies and discolors. 

 Finger marks made by pickers, graders, and packers, and 

 injuries from the shifting of the fruit in transit or from rough 

 handling, become more apparent as the season advances. In 

 fact, all of the investigations of the department of agriculture 

 emphasize the fundamental importance of well-grown, care- 

 fully handled fruit in successful storage operations. 



