368 POMOLOGY 



four days to reach a temperature of 45° F. when it is placed 

 in a refrigerator car, and that the fruit was not uniformily 

 cooled, the top of the car being from 10° to 25° higher in 

 temperature than the floor and near the ice bunkers. Such 

 fruit arrives at its destination in poor condition and hence 

 entails heavy losses to the shippers. The greater part of 

 these losses can be saved by pre-cooling, providing the fruit 

 is in good condition and well handled. 



336. Methods of pre-cooling. — Two general methods are 

 used to effect the pre-cooling of the fruit: (1) the car pre- 

 cooling, and (2) the warehouse pre-cooling. The first con- 

 sists in loading the fruit in a car ready for shipment and 

 then attaching a cold air duct or chute to the trap doors 

 into which ice is loaded into the bunkers or even to the doors 

 of the car. A fan forces the circulation of the air through 

 the car and the warmer air back into a room where it is 

 again cooled and continued through the system of circula- 

 tion. This method seems to be favored by transportation 

 companies but it is objected to by the warehouse men be- 

 cause the fruit is lowered in temperature so quickly that 

 injury to its quality results. The temperature has been 

 lowered from 80° or 90° F. — the outside temperature — to 

 35° or 40° F. in one to three hours. Another objection is 

 that space must be left between packages and, therefore, 

 by the warehouse method from 25 to 50 per cent more fruit 

 can be loaded in a car. Neither is the car of fruit cooled so 

 uniformily as by the other method. 



In the warehouse method, the boxes of fruit are placed in 

 warehouse rooms similar to those of a cold storage plant 

 and the temperature is lowered to the point desired for 

 shipping the fruit. The boxes are frequently handled on 

 endless belts. This system seems to be gaining in favor, al- 

 though the whole practice of pre-cooling is relatively new 

 and is not fully established. 



