248 STORING FRUIT 



method, and the bulk-head method is not much more efficient in 

 conserving the cold temperature of the storage house. 



4. Not too Expensive. The storage must be reasonable in 

 cost. Just what may be considered as a reasonable cost varies. 

 The cost of the same house in different localities will vary and 

 the price which a grower can afford to pay and still make a 

 profit on his investment will vary. If an orchard man is selling 

 his apples to a fancy trade at $5 to $10 a barrel he can afford 

 to put more money into a storage house than the man who is 

 selling on the general market for $1.50 to $2.00 a barrel. In 

 estimating the capacity of a room or building it is customary to 

 allow ten cubic feet per barrel, and two and a half cubic feet 

 per bushel box. These amounts allow for alley ways for getting 

 at the different lots in the storage. It is generally considered 

 that a refrigerated storage house can be put up for from 

 $2.50 to $3.50 per barrel of capacity. If an orchard man is 

 expecting to put his fruit in cold storage he can probably 

 put up his own building, provided he is a reasonably large 

 grower, cheaper than he can hire his fruit stored in a com- 

 mercial storage plant. 



The usual price charged for storing apples is 40 to 50 cents 

 per barrel for the season. Now if a grower is producing say 

 one thousand barrels of apples, and putting them in refrigerated 

 storage, he pays $500 for the season. This is the interest at 

 five per cent on $10,000, which at the estimates given above 

 would put up a building with a capacity of from 2,900 to 4,000 

 barrels. Of course it is going to cost the owner something to 

 run it, but even so he is going to save money and he is going to 

 have the advantage of a satisfactory storage right on the place 

 (Fig. 120). 



5. Proper Moisture. A storage room should carry a rela- 

 tively high percentage of moisture. Just what the best moisture 

 content is has not yet been accurately determined. Mr. Madison 

 Cooper, a recognized expert in such matters, suggests for apples 

 80 per cent of a saturated atmosphere. One thing is certain, 

 it is very easy to get the storage room too dry. While it is 

 undoubtedly possible to also get it too moist, this is a far less 



