58 MASS. EXPRRIMKNT STATION I',UL,LKT1N 378 



DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING 

 C. I. Gunness in Charge 



Cranberry Storage Investigation. (C. I. Ciunncss, H. J. Franklin, and 

 C. R. Fellers.) Cranberries from the 1940 crop were stored in a modified 

 atmosphere. I'erries were stored in air-tight steel cabinets, the covers 

 being made tight by a water seal. Two rooms were operated: one at 

 35° and the other at 45°. Tv/o cab'nets were placed in each r()om. In 

 one cabinet in each room an atmosphere of 5 percent carbon dioxide and 

 2 percent oxygen was maintained; and in the other, 10 percent of carbon 

 dioxide and approximately 11 percent oxygen was maintained. The excess 

 in carbon dioxide above 5 percent was removed by passing the air through 

 a solution of sodium hydroxide. The deficiency in oxygen was supplied 

 by ventilation. The 10 percent concentration of dioxide was maintained 

 by ventilation. 



The results of the exi)erir.ient were not satisfactory. The means pro- 

 vided for removing the water given off by respiration were found to be 

 inadequate. As a consequence the berries were wet when the cabinets 

 were opened. Additional moisture was admitted to the cabinets by ven- 

 tilation because the air for ventilation was drawn fr()m an anterooni 

 which was warmer than the storage rooms. The C(_)nditions would 

 not exist in an actual storage as the refrigerating coils would tend to 

 remove excess humidity through frosting of the coils. 



Berries stored at 35° in 5 percent carbon dioxide and 2 percent oxygen 

 showed practically the same loss as berries stored in air at the same 

 temperature. The other lots of berries stored in a modified atmosphere 

 showed considerably greater loss than those stored in air; l)ut all lots 

 were so wet that the excessive losses could he ascribed to the moisture 

 rather than to the condition of the atmosphere. 



Berries stored in the modified atmosphere showed less cohering than 

 those stored in air, which would indicate less ripening in the modified 

 atmosphere. 



Apple Storage Investigation. (C. I. Gunness in cooperation with De- 

 partment of Pomology.) A small room in the cold storage plant at the 

 .State College was lined with sheet iron and made gas tight for a trial in 

 the storage of Mcintosh apples in a modified atmosphere. A 5 percent 

 concentration of carbon dioxide is maintained in this room, the excess 

 being removed by a sodium hydroxide scrubber. Ajjpies were placed in 

 storage in September and no results are a\ailable until the storage is 

 opened in the sirring. 



Frost Protection on Cranberry Bogs. (C. 1. Gunness.) The wind 

 machine as a means ol ])rotia'ting craidierrx- hogs against frost was given 

 further trials, both in the s])ring and fall of I'HO. Only a limited lunnber 

 of trials could be made each season and the results indicated that with a 

 temi)erature in\'(.'rsion ol 7°, jirotection was given over a circular area of 

 300-foot radius. 



Poultry iHouse Investigation. ( C. 1. (bnmess and W. C. Sanctuary.) 

 .\x\ investigation of the operation of electric brooders in colony houses 

 Vv-as carried on during the ])ast winter. Identical brooders were used in 

 a conventional uninsulated brooder liousi', an insulated house, and an 

 uninsulated house in which soil cable was placed on the floor for drying 

 the litter. The lifter in the first liousi' was considerahl v welter than that 



