200 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 180. 



Table 9. — Upper and Under Berries compared as to Keeping Quality. 



It seems to be the general experience with Cape Cod bogs that late 

 holding of the winter-flowage improves the keeping quality of the berries. 

 As the writer has observed that late holding of the water frequently re- 

 duces the quantity of under berries as compared with the amount of fruit 

 produced in the tops of the vines, the results of these tests may partly 

 explain this improvement. They also suggest that the generally recog- 

 nized good comparative keeping quality of the 1916 crop may have been 

 due largely to the very general failure of the under berries to set in their 

 usual abundance. 



The deeper the scoops are run through the vines in picking, the greater 

 the proportion of under berries that are gathered and the greater, also, 

 the quantity of unattached cranberry leaves and sand that gets mixed 

 with the fruit. On account of the inferior keeping quality of the under 

 berries here shown, and because of the harm done by admixtures of loose 

 leaves proved by tests described below (No. 7; page 206), the desirability 

 of closely scooping berries that are to be stored long is rendered doubtful. 



5. Housing promptly v. Leaving Crates of Berries in the Sun on the Bog, 

 as affecting Cranberry Keeping. — Eight series of tests were carried out in 

 this connection, four with Early Black and four with Howes fruit. Four 

 of these were conducted in connection with the picking experiments 

 described above (No. 3, page 197), Table 7 showing their arrangement 

 and results. Dr. Stevens took all the temperatures given in this table 

 with chemical thermometers, their bulbs being plunged to the centers of 

 the crates. At 8 a.m., September 19, the temperatures of the twelve boxes 

 of Early Black berries ranged from 68° to 70° F., and at 8 a.m., September 

 20, they ranged from 61° to 62°, from which there was little change for 

 several days after. 



