OBSERVATIONS ON THE SPOILAGE OF CRAN- 

 BERRIES DUE TO LACK OF PROPER 

 VENTILATION. 



by c. l. shear and neil e. stevens, pathologists, and b. a. rudolph, 

 scientific assistant, fruit-disease investigations, bureau of 

 plant industry. 



Introduction. 



The injuryto cranberries due to keeping them in tightly closed packages 

 was brought strikingly to the writers' attention during temperature tests 

 conducted in the fall of 1916. Uniform samples of Early Black cranberries 

 from bogs near Wareham, Mass., were put up in pound coffee cans and sent 

 to Washington by mail. There they were placed in the constant tempera- 

 ture apparatus used by Drs. Brooks and Cooley of this office, and described 

 by them in their recent paper. ^ 



One can from each lot was placed at each of the following temperatures: 

 Centigrade, 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 degrees (equal to 32, 41, 50, 59 and 68 de- 

 grees Fahrenheit). They were kept at these temperatures from early in 

 September until about the middle of November. When the berries were 

 removed from the cans and sorted, it was found that spoilage at the lower 

 temperatures had been much greater than the previous experience of the 

 writers had led them to beHeve could be due to fungi alone. Many of 

 the spoiled berries had a peculiar lusterless appearance, and were of a 

 uniform dull red color differing both from normal and from typical 

 rotten berries. 



Among various factors considered as possible causes of this condition 

 the excessive accumulation of carbon dioxide seemed the most probable. 

 The work of F. W. Morse,^ Gore ' and others has proven that large amounts 

 of this gas are given off in the respiration of various fruits, while the studies 

 of Fulton * indicate that the spoiling of strawberries and raspberries which 

 he noted in tight packages is due to the accumulation of carbon dioxide. 

 Fulton foimd that if strawberries were kept in tightly closed bottles for 



1 Brooks, Charles, and Cooley, J. S.: Temperature Relations of Apple-rot Fungi. Journal of 

 Agricultural Research, 8, 139-163, 1917. 



' Morse, Fred W.: Effect of Temperature on the Respiration of Apples. Jour. Amer. Chem. 

 Soc, 30, 876-881, 1908. 



' Gore, H. C: Studies on Fruit Respiration, U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. of Chem., Bui. No. 142, 

 1911. 



* Fulton, S. H.: The Cold Storage of Small Fruits, U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. of Plant Indus., 

 Bui. No. 108, 1907. 



