THE EFFECTS OF STORAGE ON FRUITS 123 



as soon as picked, and immediately forwarded to the 

 storage house. Any delay in getting the temperature 

 down to the desired point will have a tendency to shorten 

 the time which the fruit will keep. 



Fruit wrappers have a very marked influence on 

 stored fruit. They prevent, to a certain extent, the 

 spread of decay organisms, they help to control the 

 humidity by keeping the moisture from evaporating so 

 rapidly and also prevent the rapid rise of temperature 

 when fruit is taken out of the storage. All these con- 

 siderations are of importance and the producer who 

 wishes to store his fruit for the longest possible time 

 makes use of them. Where the producer is storing fruit 

 for only a short time, he need not pay so much atten- 

 tion to these conditions. 



Freezing Effects. No doubt almost every orchardist 

 has found fruit that has apparently been frozen and 

 then later thawed out without material injury. This 

 is not only true in the case of fruits but also of vege- 

 tables and other products as well. This depends not 

 so much upon the temperature to which the fruit is sub- 

 jected as upon the way in which it is thawed out. In 

 cases where the temperature does not run too low, if the 

 thawing out is conducted carefully and not too rapidly, 

 the fruit will again take its normal condition and ap- 

 parently be as good as before. The effect of freezing 

 on fruit is not very well understood but it is supposed 

 that in the freezing process the cell sap is disorganized 

 and a part of it forced out between the cells or into the 

 inter-cellular spaces. Where thawing is gradual this 

 sap goes back into the cells and assumes its normal con- 

 dition, but where thawing is rapid the moisture evapo- 



