March, 1938J Agricultural Research in N. H. 13 



treated branches had blossoms on 10.8% of the fruit spurs in 1936. 

 These branches set less heavily than those from which the non-blossom- 

 ing spurs were removed. It should be stated that this tree produced a 

 very heavy crop of fruit in 1935. The result of the check compared 

 favorably with the branches in which blossoms were allowed to remain 

 on every other spur. {Adams Fund) 



Apple Crates Compared in Storage 



Rate of cooling of apples in two types of eastern apple crates was 

 compared by W. W. Smith in a continuation of our storage studies. 

 Both crates are 11" deep, 14" wide and about 17" long. The sides are 

 cut 91/^" wide, leaving a %" space at the top and the bottom for ventila- 

 tion. Style 5 is reinforced with corner posts inside the box. When 

 stacked, these crates fit tightly together, allowing little or no vertical 

 air movement. Some instances of excessive ripening of Mcintosh in 

 the center of large piles in storage have come to our attention. How- 

 ever, the air spaces at the top and bottom of the sides provide horizontal 

 channels through the pile, running crossways of the boxes. 



Style 4 has vertical cleats 7/16" thick on the outsides of the ends. 

 Thus when stacked end to end, vertical channels between the ends of 

 the boxes 14/16" by 11" extend from top to bottom of the pile. A hori- 

 zontal slot in the end of each box serves as a hand-hold and at the same 

 time allows air passing through these channels to enter the boxes. The 

 same crosswise ventilation is provided as in the Style 5. It would ap- 

 pear that this design would effect a more rapid cooling of the apples 

 when placed in storage. 



The test was carried out in a room 15' x 18' x 8' high refrigerated by 

 a York blower unit, which stands at one end. In filling such a room the 

 best procedure is to stack the apples tightly in tiers running crossways 

 of the room, but having a space at the top and also at the rear of the 

 room opposite the blower. The cold air is blown out of the top of the 

 unit near the ceiling, over the stack, down behind it, and forced to filter 

 through the pile to be taken in again at the base of the blower. 



After a preliminary trial which showed that there was much variation 

 between individual boxes as they come from the field, 100 boxes of each 

 type were filled with Mcintosh and placed in a warm receiving room 

 for two days to allow the fruit to come to uniform temperature. Then 

 the boxes were stacked in the storage room, five by five, and four deep. 

 The central boxes in these stacks were at the same temperature when 

 moved to cold storage. The temperature in the "No. 4 box" stack 

 dropped very slightly faster down to 35° F., when the "No. 5 box" stack 

 overtook it and continued thereafter to be a little the cooler. The dif- 

 ferences were rather small. 



The third and principal test was made using 280 boxes of each type 

 filled with Northern Spy apples, which were stacked 8x5 and 7 boxes 

 high in the fruit handling room with the thermographs and thermo- 

 couples in place. After five days it appeared that there was a per- 

 sistent difference of about 3° F. in the temperatures of the middle boxes 

 of the two stacks. Since at these temperatures considerable heat is 

 generated by respiration, it is probable that the lower temperature in 



