The Canadian Horticulturi^ 



Vol. XXXII 



DECEMBER, 1909 



No. 12 



The Cold Storage of Apples and Other Fruits' 



J. A. Ruddick, Dairy and Cold Storage Commissioner, Ottaiva 



ANYONE who has followed the 

 matter closely, must be convinced 

 that there is a fine opportunity to 

 improve the fruit trade of Ontario by 

 the intelligent employment of cold stor- 

 age and refrigeration in transit. I could 

 quote many instances where the value 

 of apples stored or shipped in cold stor- 

 age has been greatly enhanced. As an 

 instance, a sales catalogue from Glasgow 

 of recent date, shows that cold storage 

 Kings ex- S. S. "Pretorian," fetched 

 thirty-one shillings, while the highest 

 price paid that day for the same variety 

 shipped as ordinary cargo in the same 

 steamer was twenty-four shillings and 

 six pence. Other varieties show similar 

 differences : Wealthys in cold storage 

 sold for twenty-four shillings, as com- 

 pared with fourteen shillings and six 

 pence for those carried as ordinary car- 

 go, and so on. I quote these figures 

 merely to indicate the possibilities of 

 shipping early apples in cold storage 

 and not as an attempt to prove that such 

 results could always be obtained. 



As fruit growers, rather than ship- 

 pers, you are more interested in cold 

 storage on land, and I shall confine my- 

 self to that phase of the question and 

 get as near to the orchard as possible, 

 for that is where cold storage will be 

 the most effective. There are, however, 

 some things which cold storage will not 

 do and it is just as well that we should 

 have at the beginning a clear under- 

 standing of its limitations as well as its 

 possibilities. Reference has frequently 

 been made to the large quantities of ap- 

 ples which are wasted every year in On- 

 tario orchards, especially when there is 

 a heavy crop, and it has been urged 

 that if cold storage were available, all 

 this enormous loss would be avoided. I 

 need hardly say to experienced fruit 

 growers, that such an assumption is an 

 absolute fallacy; that it is not cold stor- 

 age which is needed primarily, but bet- 

 ter orchard methods and management. 

 The fruit grower who depends on cold 

 storage to preserve windfalls, worm- 

 eaten, bruised and skin punctured ap- 



•Extract from a paper read at the convention 

 of the Ontario Fruit Growers' Association in 

 Toronto last month. This will be followed in 

 next issue by Mr. Ruddick's remarks on the pre- 

 cooling of fruit and on the construction of cold 

 storage warehouses and cooling rooms. 



pies from early decay, will be grievously 

 disappointed. 



The lowest temperature which it is 

 possible to employ does not absolutely 

 stop either the life processes of the ap- 

 ple or all of those destructive changes 

 which include various forms of rot, etc. 

 It only checks them, but some forms of 

 decay are checked more effectively than 

 others. Experiments at Geneva showed 

 that pink rot, black rot and bitter rot 

 developed very little in cold storage. 



Read and Heed 



The Canadian Horticulturist 

 is a splendid publication ably 

 edited and artistic and attractive 

 in make up. I would urge all the 

 horticultural societies in Ontario to 

 subscribe for this magazine for 

 all their members. It gives the 

 best value for the money. Some 

 horticultural societies do not sub- 

 scribe for any horticultural publi- 

 cation. Others are taking foreign 

 periodicals. The Canadian Hor- 

 ticulturist is needed in Canada. 

 It is the only horticultural publica- 

 tion of the kind in the Dominion. 

 Were it not for the fact that thir- 

 ty-five or forty horticultural socie- 

 ties now subscribe for The Cana- 

 dian Horticulturist for all their 

 members, it could not be pub- 

 lished and Canada would be with- 

 out a horticultural magazine. Our 

 societies should look at this 

 matter not only from a local stand- 

 point but from a national stand- 

 point as well and be willing to 

 lend a helping hand to a publica- 

 tion that is working vigorously 

 and courageously in the interests 

 of all the societies. Remember 

 that the field in Canada is restrict- 

 ed. In the United States it is 

 practically unlimited. Let us 

 stand by and support The Cana- 

 dian Horticulturist if we are in 

 favor of Canada for Canadians. — 

 Major H. J. Snelgrove, Cobourg, 

 Ont., in his presidential address 

 before the Ontario Horticultural 

 Association at its recent conven- 

 tion. 



but that the ordinary soft rot, which is 

 due to the growth of the common blue 

 mould (Penicillium glaucum) and which 

 is probably the most common form of 

 apple decay is not prevented to any 

 marked extent. Fortunately, the apple 

 resists the attacks of this mould, unless 

 there has been some puncture or weak- 

 ening of the skin due to fungus or bruis- 

 ing, until it begins to deteriorate with 

 old age. The injury need only be of the 

 slightest character — a mere pin prick, 

 for instance — to provide an open door 

 for the entrance of the spores of the de- 

 stroying mould. 



If you place over-mature or ripe ap- 

 ples in cold storage, they are bound to 

 go down in a short time. Let me here 

 digress to make myself clear on the two 

 terms, "maturity" and "ripeness." I 

 would call an apple mature when it is 

 fully grown and well colored for the 

 variety, and call it ripe when it reaches 

 its best condition for eating. The length 

 of time which elapses between maturity 

 and ripeness varies greatly according to 

 variety. In some earlier or quick ripen- 

 ing varieties, it is only a matter of days, 

 while in others, it becomes a question of 

 weeks and even months. 



The foregoing is probably more of a 

 practical definition than a scientific one, 

 for I suppose nature intends all apples 

 to ripen fully on the trees, but man with 

 his perverseness has so shifted things 

 around that he is growing many varie- 

 ties in latitudes and climates where they 

 cannot possibly do so. I do not say 

 there is anything wrong in that. We 

 call such apples mature when they reach 

 the stage in which we are accustomed 

 to find them as taken from the tree. 



EARLY VARIETIES SHOULD NOT BE HELD 



The earliest varieties should be rushed 

 to the market as quickly as possible to 

 take advantage of the early trade. 

 Prompt chilling before shipment is all 

 that cold storage should be expected to 

 do for apples of this class. Even with 

 xarieties whose qualities would commend 

 them in competition with others past 

 their regular season, some caution is 

 necessary, because if an apple is carried 

 much past the time" when experience has 

 taught every one that it has reached its 

 best and may be expected to "go down", 

 dealers would hesitate before handling it. 



