REPORT OF CRANBERRY SUBSTATION FOR 1916. 197 



These records show that under ordinary harvesting conditions cranber- 

 ries attain high temperatures on the vines. It has been found that with 

 the crate containers commonly used these temperatures do not change 

 rapidly unless the berries are placed in very cool storage after they are 

 picked. 



The difference between the temperature of the air and that of the ber- 

 ries when picked is greatest when the sun is highest, and is least early in 

 the morning and late in the afternoon. Tests with green and ripe berries 

 in small glass containers failed to show any appreciable difference between 

 berries of different colors. 



3. Hatid-picking v. Scoop-picking as affecting Keeping Quality. — Two 

 series of tests come under this head, as follows : — 



(a) Twelve parallel and adjacent strips of Early Black vines, each ap- 

 proximately 50 feet long by 5^ feet wide, were picked in alternation with 

 scoops and by hand on September 18, a single full crate being obtained 

 from each strip. In the hand-picking, each man was allowed to follow his 

 own method, and a great difference was observed in the ways in which 

 they did the work, some tearing the berries from the vines with their fingers 

 used much like scoop-teeth, and some picking individual berries much as 

 strawberries are commonly gathered. Six of the crates, three hand-picked 

 and three scoop-picked, were placed in the storage room at once, the rest 

 being left in the sun on the bog for several hours. Test No. 1 of Table 7 

 completes the record of these tests. 



(6) Twelve crates of Howes berries, picked by hand and with scoops 

 in alternation, as in the first series of tests, from an equal number of nar- 

 row parallel and adjacent strips of vines, were handled as indicated in test 

 No. 2, of Table 7. 



The averages of the table show that the scooped berries kept slightly 

 better than the hand-picked ones in both series of tests. All this fruit was 

 stored as it came from the bog without cleaning in any way. The crates 

 were examined by the "nine-sample" method in determining the rot per- 

 centages. 



