90 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 265 



Harvesting the Berries 



The cranberries were picked at weekly intervals unless rain interfered, 

 in which case the vines were allowed to become dry before the fruit was 

 touched. Uniform conditions at the time of picking the berries were deemed 

 to be more desirable than equal intervals of time between samples. The 

 samples were sent to the laboratory at Amherst by parcel post, and about 

 forty-eight hours elapsed between the picking and the arrival of the sample. 

 The details of securing and forwarding samples were executed by Dr. H. J. 

 Franklin and Mr. J. L. Kelley. 



Preparation for Analysis 



On arrival the cranberries were at once placed in an electric refrigerator 

 at 40° F. The next day the samples were sorted by hand and perfect, sound 

 berries were selected for analysis, from which charges of 500 grams were 

 weighed and prepared for the drying-oven. 



The skin of cranberries is so nearly waterproof that to promote quick dry- 

 ing it was necessary to cut every berry into halves before spreading them on 

 trays in the steam-heated oven. The cut berries were dried until they were 

 brittle enough to be easily ground to powder, which required about three days. 

 When dry, the berries were allowed to cool in the air of the room, then 

 weighed as air-dry material and preserved in glass-stoppered bottles for fur- 

 ther preparation for analysis. 



The air-dry material was pulverized in an iron mortar to a fine powder 

 and returned to the bottle to be used subsequently for determinations of total 

 sugar, starch, fiber, wax, dry matter and protein. In 1926 the air-dry mater- 

 ial was used for determination of total acid, but it was found that in the 

 drying some of the malic acid of the fruit must have been changed or de- 

 stroyed by the heat (9). During the second season, 1927, air-dry material 

 was prepared as usual for all determinations except total acid, which was 

 measured in the fresh fruit as each sample arrived at the laboratory. 



Description of Berries 



The earliest samples of Early Black cranberries were beginning to show 

 a little red on some of the fruit, while Howes were wholly green. Both kinds 

 were hard and crisp when cut and their seeds were white. 



As the season advanced and the berries became more and more colored 

 they became slightly softer to touch and were more easily cut. The seeds 

 changed from white to yellow. By the last of September the Early Black 

 variety had the dark red tint which gives it its name. The berries cut easily 

 and the seeds were brown and fell from the cut halves. The Howes variety at 

 this time appeared immature, hard and crisp under the knife, with light 

 yellow seeds. The sample of October 7, 1926 was deeply colored, cut easily 

 and behaved much like the mature Early Black. 



The chemical compositition for both seasons is shoM-n in Tables 1 and 2. 



The principal change in conijiosition during the ripening is the progres- 

 sive increase in the percentage of total sugar which is accompanied by a 



