16 



MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 168. 



be remembered, however, that the keeping quality of the berries used in 

 these tests was exceptionally good. With berries of poorer keeping quality, 

 the slatted boxes would naturally show a greater advantage. 



As the figures in Tables 7, 8 and 9 show, the berries in the bottom box 

 of each stack lost more water than did those in any of the other boxes, 

 those in the top box as a rule coming second in this respect. The free 

 circulation of air under the stacks, allowed by the presence of the empty 

 box, was presumably responsible for the increased loss of the bottom box. 



(c) To determine the Effect of the Loss of Water as a Factor in Quantity 

 Shrinkage. — Only one series of tests was conducted in this connection, 

 as follows : — 



Early Black berries picked on September 11 were screened and packed 

 in barrels on the 15th. They were then stored until October 11, when 

 they were screened again and examined for size, counts of the number 

 necessary to fill the inspectors' cup of the New England Cranberry Sales 

 Company being taken. Some of this fruit was then placed in two new 

 bushel picking boxes, with solid bottoms and slatted sides, and stored 

 until January 19, when it was run through a separator, screened, and 

 then examined again, as before, for size. These two boxes of berries were 

 weighed five times, on the following dates: October 11, October 24, De- 

 cember 18, January 3 and January 10. The experience with this fruit is 

 shown in detail in Tables 10, 11 and 12. 



Table 10. — Relative Water Loss of Early Black Cranberries, in Boxes 

 with Solid Bottoms and Slatted Sides, in Different Periods of the Storage 

 Season. 



The table shows that the average daily water loss of these berries was 

 about two and three-fourths times as great during the first period (Octo- 

 ber 11 to October 24) as it was during the last two periods (December 18 

 to January 10), while it was intermediate in amount in the second period 



