Earle on Refrigerator Cars. 469 



fruit to be put on the market after its full flavor and qual- 

 ity has been developed. The flat, insipid quality, and lack 

 of flavor so often noticed in California fruits on the eastern 

 markets, comes very largely from the pernicious habit of green 

 picking. A peach that is ripe enough to be fully mellow is 

 hard to handle without bruising, but they should hang on the 

 tree till fully grown and colored. A peach that would be 

 mellow if left on the tree till to-morrow, is in just the right 

 condition to pick to-day. Pears, on the other hand, should 

 be picked green, at least ten days to two weeks before soft- 

 ening, and should be ripened in a close, dark place. For 

 this reason, they can be safely shipped in tight boxes or 

 barrels in open cars, unless it is intended to place them in 

 cold storage on arrival. In this case, they should be shipped 

 under refrigeration, to retard the ripening process as much 

 as possible. 



"Refrigerator cars were first built for the meat trade. The 

 meat was hung in cold-storage houses, and was loaded into the 

 cars at or near the freezing point. In a tight, well built car 

 such a cold load would warm up very slowly, and a small 

 amount of ice served to carry it safely to its destination. When 

 it was attempted to use these cars for fruit, the hot load, fresh 

 from the fields, soon melted the limited ice supply, and the cars 

 invariably arrived heated and in bad order. To use these cars 

 successfully, it was found necessary to build cooling houses at 

 the shipping points, in which the fruit could be cooled off be- 

 fore loading, as in the case of the meat. This caused delay in 

 getting the fruit on the market, and made much additional ex- 

 lense. It, however, demonstrated the success of refrigeration 

 for the transportation of fruits, and soon cars were built espe- 

 cially for the fruit trade, with sufficient ice capacity to cool off 

 a load of hot fruit in transit, and to keep it cool. At the 

 present time there are a number of refrigerator car lines, with 

 specially built fruit cars, that are actively competing for the 

 fruit, and vegetable carrying trade; so that any point, having 

 sufficient business to offer, can secure efficient car service, with 

 competent men to look after the proper loading and icing of the 



