468 The Principles of Fruit -growing. 



some time, if kept cold enough, for cold arrests the growth 

 of the organisms of decay. The decay is only arrested, how- 

 ever, for these organisms are not killed by the cold, and as 

 soon as such fruit is again brought into a warm atmosphere 

 they rapidly complete its destruction. If, however, the fruit 

 is taken from the field at the proper stage of maturity, and 

 is placed at once in a refrigerator car, the cold prevents the 

 beginning of incipient decay; and the fruit will arrive at 

 its destination in a condition to keep almost as long after 

 taking it from the car as it would have kept in the open 

 air at the time it was picked. Strawberries must be in the 

 best possible condition, and the weather not too hot, for them 

 to stand thirty-six hours' transportation by express; or, in 

 other words, for them to reach market in good condition on 

 the second morning after picking. In the writer's experience, 

 strawberries have been repeatedly sent from southern Illinois 

 to Detroit, a three-days' run, by refrigerator freight, and have 

 been successfully reshipped by express to Canadian points that 

 were not reached till the second morning after leaving Detroit. 

 "Again, no fruit is more perishable than a fully ripened 

 peach; but peaches fully mellow, and ready to eat, have been 

 put in refrigerator cars in California, and, after a six-days' 

 run to Chicago, have been reshipped by express to New York, 

 reaching there in condition to bring good prices. Of course, 

 to endure such severe tests, it is necessary to have the fruit 

 very carefully assorted and packed. A very few specked 

 peaches or rotting strawberries would spoil au entire package 

 before reaching so distant a market. Good judgment, too, is 

 necessary in picking fruit at the proper stage of maturity for 

 refrigerator shipment. Of course, it should not be too ripe, 

 but the mistake is much more often made of picking it too 

 green. In shipping by freight in open cars, it is often nec- 

 essary to pick rather green, but with most fruits this is done 

 at great sacrifice of quality. Under refrigeration, fully ma- 

 tured ripe fruit will keep better than that which is grass 

 green. This is an important point in favor of refrigeration, 

 and one that many growers do not understand, for it enables 



