HARVESTING AND MARKETING 177 



up that matter here, especially as very few apple 

 growers ever undertake to build such storage houses. 



The ordinary practice in dealing with cold storage - 

 is for the grower or buyer to send the apples to a re- 

 frigerating house in the city. Space in these houses f 

 is rented. The ordinary price is from 30 to 50 cents 

 a barrel for the season. A certain temperature is 

 guaranteed. The apples may then be removed when- 

 ever the owner desires. 



It should be clearly understood by every one who 

 undertakes the cold storage of apples that the func- 

 tion of the storage house is merely to maintain a uni- 

 form temperature of a desired degree throughout the 

 compartment and during the storage season. Cold 

 storage will not make number one fruit out of number 

 two, nor will it altogether prevent the natural proc- 

 ess of deterioration. It simply checks the ordinary 

 processes of decay. It appears that many persons 

 have expected too much of cold storage in the past. 



While it is not necessary for the apple grower to 

 know about the different systems of mechanical re- 

 frigeration, it is, nevertheless, a matter of consider- 

 able interest to him. Storage rooms are sometimes 

 cooled directly with ice, although the direct cooling 

 systems are not in very common use. Usually the 

 rooms are cooled by the evaporation of the liquid 

 gases. The gas is allowed to evaporate in or near 

 the storage room and during its evaporation it takes 

 up the heat from the room or fruit, thereby lowering 

 the temperature. 



The following description of the methods usually 

 employed is taken from G. Harold Powell's bulletin 

 entitled "The Apple in Cold Storage." 



