PRE-COOLING OF FRUITS 



1737 



vorable than obtain during a transconti- Cherry and Fresh Prune Handling 



nental trip. Tlie car was kept fully iced Exneriments 



throughout the season, and at no time 



was a full carload of fruit on hand. The This work was begun at Salem, Oregon, 



fruit held without pre-cooling was there- during the season of 1911. The results 



fore cooled much more rapidly than are given in order further to emphasize 



would have been the case under actual the consistency of the careful handling 



shipping conditions. It is necessary to principle. 



take these factors into consideration in . . ^, ^ ^, 



, , , As in the case of the raspberry expen- 



making comparisons of pre-cooled and 



, , . ... , ^ • X ments, it was impracticable to make in- 



non-pre-cooled crates. It is only fair to 



^, ^ , , . . ,.^. spections after actual shipment and the 



assume that under shipping conditions 



., , . 1 J ,, • ,j lots were held m an iced car for periods 



the decay in non-pre-cooled berries would . „ „ ^ , „ , 



,,.,., , ^ X, . representing trips of 10, 15 and 20 days 



be higher than shown by these expen- „ ,. . , 



„, ■ J. ^ ^ ^ ^ ^, respectively. The conditions were only 



ments. The point to be drawn from these ... 



. ., ■ X .1, , 1. approximately those of a car in transit, 



figures is the consistently clear-cut re- «-r .. ^ 



,^ ^ ^ , , J,,. .i, ^, . as owing to the car being only partially 



suits from careful handling with this „ ^ , ,.^. 



• , ,-, ^ .i rr,, X X t, filled, the temperature conditions in the 



very perishable fruit. The two tables „ , , , , , 



, , , . , , . , , car were more favorable than during 



should be considered separately and are . . „ .. 



„ , ^, , ^ ^i . J shipment with a full carload. The fruit 

 not comparable. Only the data obtained ... . , , 



. . , , , ■ ^ . was held after withdrawal from th-^ car 



from actual comparable series of expert- . . 



, • , J J . ^, .o , under open market conditions, 



ments are included in the figures shown 



in each table, and the series for the Careful handling in the work with 



handling and pre-cooling experiments are cherries and prunes consisted not only in 



not the same. The figures for the per- using care in picking and packing, but 



centages of decay in the pre-cooled lots in grading or culling out all imperfect 



do not tell the whole story. The pre- fruits. The season was very unfavorable, 



cooled berries presented a much brighter there having been considerable rain dur- 



and more favorable appearance than the ing the shipping season, and a large pro- 



non-pre-cooled, and the consensus of portion of the fruit was cracked and otli- 



opinion of all who examined the fruit erwise damaged. These were carefully 



was that a material benefit resulted from culled out as far as practicable in the 



the pre-cooling. This need not in any carefully handled lots; in the commer- 



way detract from the importance of the cial packs, little attention was paid to 



results from the handling experiments. culling out the imperfect fruits. 



Table VI. Arerag-e Pereentagt's of Decay in Carefully Handled and Commer- 

 cially Handled Cherries at Salem, Oregon, 1911. 



Carefully Handled rommerclallv riandled. 



At With- Two Days At With- Two Days 



drawal. After. drawal. After. 



% Decay % Decay. % Decay. % Decay. 



Five days in refrigerator car 0..*) .'?..'> 2.8 10.8 



Ten days in refrigerator car 1..5 3. ,'5 12.3 21.4 



Fifteen days in refrigerator car 4.3 7.3 16.0 • 26.1 



Table VII. Areraee Percentages of Decay in Carefully Handled and Commer- 

 cially Handled Fresh Prunes. Salem, Oregon, 1911. 



On With- Two Days Four Days Six Days 



drawal. After. After. After. 



% Decay % Decay. % Decay. % Decay. 

 Ten days in refrigerator car — 



Carefully handled 0.7 1.2 1.6 2.1 



Commercially handled 3.5 5.6 0.3 8.7 



Fifteen days in refrigerator car — 



Carefully handled 0.4 1.2 2.1 3.7 



Commercially handled 7.1 8.8 11.5 16.6 



Twenty days in refrigerator car — 



Carefully handled 2.7 3,8 4.7 6 



Commercially handled 6.8 0.7 19.3 23.3 



