TRANSPLANTING 



TRANSPORTATION 



3367 



3834. A dibber. One of 



the most useful implements 

 to aid in the transplanting 

 of small plants. The plant 

 is dropped into a hole made 

 by the dibber; this hole is 

 closed by inserting the dib- 

 ber at the side and moving 

 it against the plant. 



unskilled help and inefficient appliances. Only a cer- 

 tain proportion of the efforts in transplanting very 

 large trees are really successful. The trees may live 

 for several years and yet never fully recover or make 

 satisfactory subjects. The surest and best results are 

 usually secured only when the 

 trees are nursery-grown and 

 have been transplanted two 

 or three times within a few 

 years of their final removal. 

 There are some species that 

 remove from the wild with 

 relative ease when they are 

 of large size, among which are 

 elms, maples, pin oak, bass- 

 wood; but the large number 

 of species do not readily re- 

 cuperate from the operation. 

 See Arboriculture, Vol. I, page 

 362. 



It is sometimes said that a 

 plant cannot recover from the 

 transplanting operation, that 

 the severing of the roots in- 

 flicts injuries that are not out- 

 grown, and that a new type of 

 root-system develops. These 

 fears appear to be groundless. 

 In many cases the plant does 

 not regain itself, but these 

 instances are probably due to 

 lack of skill in the operation rather than to any inherent 

 difficulty in the transplanting process itself. But even 

 if the transplanting process were found to be theoreti- 

 cally injurious, nevertheless it must be employed in 

 the practice of modern horticulture. L_ g < j^ 



TRANSPORTATION of horticultural products. 

 Commercially, fruits and vegetables are grown pri- 

 marily for profit . Whether the business of fruit- or vege- 

 table%rowing results in profit or in actual loss to the 

 grower depends on a great many factors. Among the 

 more important are quality and quantity of produc- 

 tion, distance from markets, cost of transportation, the 

 condition in which the produce reaches the markets, 

 methods of marketing, and the supply and demand. 



In present-day fruit-growing, especially when the 

 localities of production are often thousands of miles 

 distant from the larger markets, there is no factor of 

 greater importance than rapid and efficient transporta- 

 tion. Even.- fruit-grower is, or should be, aware^of the 

 necessity of safe and rapid transportation, together 

 with the delivery of perishable produce at the markets 

 in sound attractive condition. Soundness and freedom 

 from decay or deterioration are fundamental to profi- 

 table marketing, therefore to successful fruit-growing. 

 All the labor and moneys invested in production are 

 wasted if the products cannot be transported and 

 delivered in good condition. 



Transportation is the link that connects the producer 

 with his market, his zone of distribution being deter- 

 mined largely by the cost of transportation and abso- 

 lutely by the distance over which the produce can be 

 shipped in sound marketable condition. This distance 

 will necessarily van- with the variety of fruit, the locali- 

 ties in which grown, cultural methods, care exercised in 

 handling and preparing it for shipment, the prompfr- 

 ness with which it is cooled, and the temperatures 

 maintained in transit. The factors above mentioned 

 are the more fundamental ones governing the con- 

 dition of horticultural produce in transportation. It is 

 clear, therefore, that successful transportation depends 

 not only on conditions in transit but on the prehand- 

 ling of the produce prior to shipment. The responsi- 

 bility for the condition of these products when delivered 

 at the markets is a common one as between producers, 



shippers, and carriers. The very best refrigeration 

 that is practicable cannot be expected to deliver per- 

 ishable products in sound merchandizing condition 

 that have been badly handled prior to loading or ship- 

 ment. Nor can such produce properly handled be 

 delivered in good marketable condition without ade- 

 quate refrigeration in transit during warm weather or 

 sufficient protection against freezing in the cold 

 weather. 



The railways of the United States annually pay out 

 millions of dollars in claims on account of breakage, 

 decay and deterioration, freezing, and other damage 

 in transit of perishable produce. This does not begin to 

 cover losses sustained by the shippers in claims that 

 are not paid, or deterioration for which no claims are 

 made, and the injurious effect on the price received for 

 the produce actually sound. The economic losses to 

 consumers, carriers, shippers, and producers, especially 

 consumers and producers, who finally shoulder the 

 greater part of the burden, are enormous. This great 

 wastage of the nation's food-supply is an important 

 factor in the high cost of living and is very generally 

 one of the main reasons for losses instead of profits to 

 the growers or producers. The most important fact 

 in this connection is that most of these losses are 

 unnecessary and preventable. As the decay and conse- 

 quent losses occur in transit, it is of the greatest impor- 

 tance that growers, shippers, and carriers have a clear 

 and accurate knowledge of the fundamental factors 

 governing condition of fruits and vegetables in trans- 

 portation. 



Few commodities are more subject to decay and 

 deterioration in transit than are fruit and vegetable 

 crops. In considering the transportation of these prod- 

 ucts and their behavior in transit, it is absolutely 

 essential that the fact be kept in mind that fruit and 

 vegetables are living organisms with a definite span of 

 life beginning in the orchard or field and ending nor- 

 mally in actual death-decay. It must be remembered, 

 therefore, that, in preparing these products for ship- 

 ment, in transportation, and through all stages to the 

 ultimate consumer, one is dealing with real organisms, 

 the life-span of which will be lengthened or shortened 

 by methods of handling and conditions in transporta- 

 tion. A correct interpretation of the reasons for the 

 losses from decay and deterioration in transit depends 

 on accurate knowledge of types of troubles that de- 

 stroy the market value of fruits and vegetables. The 

 prevention of these losses must be based on a clear 

 understanding as regards the relation of the develop- 

 ment of these troubles to methods of handling prior to 

 shipment, and to temperature conditions in transit. 

 The types of troubles that may destroy or lessen the 

 value of these products are of two kinds, decay and skin- 

 blemishes. In ordinary transportation the former is 

 by far of the most importance, while in storage skin- 

 blemishes may be very important factors. Decay may 

 result either from attacks by fungous or bacterial 

 organisms, or through physiological breakdown which 

 may be termed natural death decay. The organisms 

 causing decay in transportation may for convenience 

 be divided into two groups, those which are parasitic, 

 or which may cause decay of sound uninjured fruits, 

 and those which are saprophytic or which have not the 

 power to attack the sound unbroken skin of fruits or 

 vegetables. Parasitic fungi causing decay in transit 

 are usually orchard or field diseases that ordinarily can 

 be controlled through proper cultural sanitation prac- 

 tices in the fields or orchards. Saprophytic organisms 

 are responsible for by far the largest proportion of losses 

 due to fungous decay in transportation and can be 

 controlled only through careful and correct handling 

 methods in the harvesting and preparation of the fruit 

 for shipment. 



Physiological breakdown or death -decay hinges 

 largely on proper handling methods and temperatures 



