STORAGE 



STORAGE 



1731 



since passed the stage of au experiment, and the annual 

 tonnage of such products is rapidly increasing. It is no 

 longer ago than 1888 that the Oceana carried the first 

 cargo of apples in cold storage from Melbourne to Eng- 

 land, and the first cargo of West India fruits was car- 

 ried in 1880 by the ship Nonpareil. Now California is 

 able to ship peaches and plums in refrigerator cars to 

 New York, and thence to Liverpool by cold storage on 

 shipboard, and put the products in good order on the 

 English markets. With refrigeration, time is of less 

 importance than rehandling, shaking aud a constant 

 temperature. 



Storage machinery has been greatly modified during 

 the past two years. Small condensers, propelled by gas 

 engines, water-motors and even windmills, are now 

 available for use in hotels, meat shops and places where 

 constant cold is needed. While these small plants have 

 not been used in private storage houses with limited 

 capacity, there is no good reason why they should not 

 be. In large cities central refrigerating plants dis- 

 tribute chilled brine through properly insulated pipes 

 to dealers and commission men, much after the manner 

 of water and gas. The dealer is then independent of 

 the market, and if a consignment of fruit is received 

 too late for the week's trade it can be held in the cold 

 room with security for the Monday morning market. 

 With this plan, a large number of dealers in the busi- 

 ness quarter of auy city can be supplied with cold at a 

 moderate cost from a single central station. 



In modern cold storage two systems are 

 in common use: one is known as the "direct 

 expansion system," and operates by allowing 

 the compressed gas to expand in coils of 

 pipes placed in the room to be cooled ; the 

 other is known as the " brine circulation sys- 

 tem," and operates by pumping chilled brine 

 of one of the salts, sodium, calcium or potas- 

 sium chloride, through coils of pipe in the 

 room to be cooled. Both these systems pre- 

 sent objections, which are of greater moment 

 to the horticulturist than to any other class 

 using cold storage. The temperature in the 

 immediate neighborhood of the cooled coils 

 is so low as to freeze the fruit stored there, 

 to overcome this, a system in which no pipes are 

 placed in the chilled or storage room has been de- 

 vised. A coil of pipe is arranged for direct expansion 

 and the air of the room to be cooled is drawn out by a 

 fan, passed over the chilled pipes, the temperature 

 lowered, and again carried back to the cold room into 

 which it is distributed from the ceiling by large wooden 

 conduits with numerous dampers and openings, so that 

 the cold can be distributed evenly through the room by 

 the constantly moving air. With this arrangement the 

 temperature can be kept constant and uniform through- 

 out all parts of the room, and there is no loss from 

 freezing. 



The following table of temperatures, compiled from 

 experience of practical storage men, will serve as a 

 guide for storing horticultural products: 



"Asparagus, cabbage, carrots, and celery are carried 

 with 'little humidity; parsnips and salsify same as 

 onions aud potatoes, except that they may be frozen 

 without detriment. 



"Apples when stored in barrels should not be stored 

 on ends, but preferably on their sides. Fig. 2411. A 

 temperature of 32° is considered most favorable. 



"In general, green fruits and vegetables should not 

 be allowed to wither. Citrous fruits and vegetables 

 should be kept dry until the skin loses its moisture; 

 then the drying process should be immediately checked. 

 For bananas no rule can be made. The exigencies of 

 the market must govern the ripening process, which 

 can be manipulated almost at will. 



"Fruits, especially tender fruits, should be placed in 

 cold storage just when they are ripe. They will keep 

 better than if put in when not fully ripe. Pears will 

 stand as low a temperature as 33°. Sour fruit will not 

 bear as much cold as sweet fruit. Catawba grapes will 

 suffer no harm at 20°, while 32° will be as cold as is 

 safe for a lemon. 



"The spoiling of fruit at a temperature below 40° F. 



2410. A storage house in western New York, built with particular 

 reference to storing apples. 



In orde 



is due to moisture. In storing apples, eight to teu cubic 

 feet storage room space is allowed per barrel, and twenty 

 to twenty-rive tons daily refrigerating capacity per 10,- 

 000 barrels." L . C . Corbett. 



Treatment of Fruits Intended for Cold Storage. — Cold 

 storage has come to be a factor of prime importance in 

 the marketing of many fruits, especially in apples, 

 pears and grapes. With the more perishable fruits, like 

 berries, peaches and plums, it is hut little used, largely 

 for the following reason: The action of cold in preserv- 

 ing fruits depends on two things; first, it retards those 

 normal bio-chemical changes in the tissues of the fruit 

 that are concerned in the process of ripening. It is a 

 matter of common observation that apples, for instance, 

 stored in a warm room ripen and become mellow much 

 quicker than those in a cold cellar. Second, if the de- 

 gree of cold is sufficient, it prevents partially or entirely 

 the growth of those bacteria and fungi that cause decay. 

 In peaches and other perishable fruits the changes con- 

 cerned in the normal process of ripening take place 

 much more rapidly than in winter apples or other fruits 

 that are naturally good keepers. By the time the more 

 perishable fruits reach market, in the ordinary course 

 of events, these changes have already progressed so far 

 that it is necessary to dispose of the fruit at once in 

 order to avoid loss. If, now, market conditions are un- 

 favorable and it is decided to place the fruit in cold 

 storage to hold it for a better market, the chances are 

 against success, for the ripening changes have already 

 progressed almost to the limit of safety and, while the 

 cold checks, it does not entirely prevent them. The 

 usual result is that, even though they may look fairly 

 well while still in the cold chamber, the goods go down 

 quickly on reaching the warm outside air. When for 

 any reason it is desirable to hold perishable fruits in 

 cold storage, it is essential that great care be used in 

 selecting only perfectly sound, full-grown but unripe 

 specimens, and that these be placed as soon as possible 

 after picking in a refrigerator car or an ice-box for 



