3246 



STORAGE 



of storage and the application of storage principles 

 is as important as transportation principles. The 

 object of refrigeration in the transportation of fruits 

 involves only the holding of the fruit in sound condition 

 long enough to reach the consumer. Storage, on the 

 other hand, includes the holding of the product for a 

 long or short period, thereby lengthening the season of 

 marketing as well as increasing the territory over which 

 it may be distributed. The lengthening of the season 

 of marketing or period during which the product may be 

 sold, is very essential when the production of fruit 

 crops has reached a point greater than can be con- 

 sumed during the normal season. This is aside from 

 the general advantage of having a product out of sea- 

 son, for which many consumers are willing to pay fancy 

 prices. The conservation of the surplus crops through 

 storage enables the equalization of the selling or market- 

 ing season, giving the consumer the advantage of obtain- 

 ing supplies during a longer period, and giving the pro- 

 ducer a chance to market larger crops at profitable 

 prices. The application of storage to the apple industry 

 has resulted in making this fruit an all-the-year-round 

 staple food, as supplies are easily held from one season 

 to the next. The advantages of this to both consumer 

 and producer are manifest. If all the apples produced 

 had to go into consumption during the normal season 

 of this fruit, there would be alternate periods of plenty 

 and scarcity. The same is true, although to a less 

 extent, of other fruit crops, such as pears, grapes, 

 lemons, and oranges. Many of the vegetable crops are 

 likewise held successfully in storage for longer marketing 

 periods than their normal seasons. Potatoes, celery, 

 cabbage, onions, and even lettuce and cauliflower are 

 successfully stored for varying periods. 



Storage also finds application in other horticultural 

 industries. The nurserymen are enabled to hold their 

 stocks of trees, plants, cions, or cuttings until the proper 

 season of planting or propagation arrives. Bulbs, 

 lily-of-the-valley crowns, and cu1>flowers are also 

 successfully held in cold or cool storage much longer 

 than would otherwise be the case. All of these examples 

 are mentioned to indicate the wide application of 

 storage to horticultural industries. 



There are several different methods of conserving or 

 preserving food products. Among these methods may 

 be mentioned curing, drying, salting, smoking, can- 

 ning, use of chemical preservatives, and by refrigera- 

 tion. Of these the last method is the only one by which 

 the products are held in their original or "fresh" con- 

 dition. All other methods involve a change in the 

 character of the product. Cold-storage conservatibn 

 aims to hold the product in such a condition that it 

 may be used as fresh. If the storage does not accom- 

 plish this, it falls short of its principal object. 



Two kinds or methods of storage are recognized at 

 present: These are (1) cold storage, and (2) common 

 storage, sometimes known as "dry storage." The 

 objects of these two methods of storage and their accom- 

 plishment are the same. "Cold" storage is designated 

 as artificially cooled storage, or the holding of the prod- 

 ucts in rooms or buildings which are artificially refrige- 

 rated, i. e., the cooling is effected by means of machinery 

 or ice. "Common" storage is the term applied to stor- 

 age without ice or mechanical refrigeration, the cooling 

 effect being obtained from the natural low temperature 

 of the outdoor air. The aim of common storage is "to 

 conserve the natural cold" in buildings which are 

 specially constructed and equipped with proper ventilat- 

 ing devices or openings. It is difficult to determine the 

 exact reason for designating this type of storage as 

 "dry" storage. Both cold and common storage must 

 be dry, excessive moisture in either case being detri- 

 mental. A possible explanation of the use of the term 

 "dry" in this connection is the fact that in the first 

 cold-storage houses ice was the refrigerant with neces- 

 sarily more or less dampness about the plant; while in 



common storage, no ice is used ordinarily and conse- 

 quently there is no dampness from this cause. 



Contrary to general belief, the use of cold storage is 

 not confined to modern civilization. Frank N. Meyer, 

 Agricultural Explorer for the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, reports the finding of the use of 

 cold-storage methods applied to fruits in remote parts 

 of China, wholly out of touch with modern civiliza- 

 tion. Meyer states that the Chinese have practised 

 cold-storage methods for centuries. They are able to 

 hold grapes from one year to the next by storing them 

 in deep cellars which are kept cold with baskets of 

 broken ice placed among the baskets of fruit. He found 

 also that the Chinese fruit merchants keep perishable 

 fruits in large thick-walled earthen jars, in the bottom 

 of which a layer of broken ice is kept and over this, in 

 wicker baskets, the fruit is held. The jar is covered by 

 a wooden felt-covered lid. It is a long step from these 

 ancient Chinese ice-cooled cellars and jars to the 

 modern mechanically refrigerated storage house, but 

 it is certainly of interest to find that the ancients under- 

 stood the fundamental principles of the conservation 

 of foods through the reduction of their temperature,. 



There has been much discussion during the past 'few 

 years regarding the application of storage (cold or 

 refrigerated storage principally) to the conservation of 

 foods. It seems unfortunate that the bulk of this dis- 

 cussion has taken a rather condemnatory stand. The 

 dangers of the use of cold-stored food products have 

 been over-emphasized. The present high cost of living 

 has been at least partly ascribed to the supposed per- 

 nicious practice of "cornering" foodstuffs during their 

 normal seasons at low prices, and holding them in 

 storage to be sold at arbitrarily high prices. While 

 there is no doubt that attempts have been made to 

 corner foodstuffs in this way, experience shows that 

 these attempts have been few and almost uniformly 

 disastrous financial failures so far as the promoters 

 were concerned. As will be shown later in this article, 

 the holding of fruits or other foods in storage is rather 

 expensive and not so simple as it seems to be at first 

 sight. Not all products are uniformly suitable for 

 storage and unless the greatest care is exercised both 

 in selecting the product and preparing it for storage, 

 serious losses from deterioration are certain. 



Another unfortunate fallacy, that cold-stored prod- 

 ucts are necessarily inferior as such, has become widely 

 prevalent, due to campaigns in newspapers and maga- 

 zines with a view mainly of casting odium upon stored 

 products. There can be no doubt that much poor 

 cold-stored food materials have been sold. Deteriorated 

 foods have frequently been foisted upon consumers. 

 The fallacy lies in attributing the deterioration alone 

 to cold storage. Such deterioration can usually be 

 traced to the poor condition of the product at the time 

 it was placed in storage, to improper methods of pre- 

 paring the product for storage, or to attempts to hold 

 it too long. The application of the low temperature 

 is not detrimental unless the temperature is low enough 

 to injure the product by freezing. No product can be 

 improved through cold storage. If it is in poor con- 

 dition when it is placed in storage, it will be in much 

 poorer condition when it is withdrawn. If it is in 

 good condition at the tune it is stored, it will remain in 

 first-class condition throughout its normal life, pro- 

 vided always that the storage plants or rooms have 

 been properly operated. 



Many fallacious arguments have been offered tending 

 to prove that holding in cold storage is itself sufficient 

 to render a given food product unwholesome. While 

 unwholesome cold-stored products have at times been 

 placed on the market, as admitted in the preceding 

 paragraph, the condition of the goods was due to the 

 three causes above enumerated and not alone to the 

 application of refrigeration. The attempts to hold sup- 

 plies which have deteriorated before they are placed in 



