PREVENTION OF FRUIT ROTS iii 



and storage should be such as to allow the moisture given off to 

 get away quickly, and in this respect the warehouse should be as 

 carefully considered as the ship. Conditions on the latter have 

 often been blamed for mischief which has got well started ashore. 



The practice of curing or quailing, where comparative tests 

 have been made, has been usually found to be the reverse of 

 beneficial. Washing citrus fruit has been shown greatly to 

 increase the percentage of loss. With some types of infection, the 

 exclusion by inspection of fruit showing injury or incipient decay 

 is of very great importance. Delicate fruit should not be packed 

 more than one layer deep. All packing should be tight, but 

 squeezing must be avoided. 



In particular cases fruit may be fumigated with formaldehyde 

 (see page loo) or disinfected with copper sulphate (one in 5,000 to 

 one in 50,000), formalin (one in 10,000), or potassium perman- 

 ganate (one in 10,000). 



Packing sheds should be light and well ventilated. If they 

 can be kept clean it does not appear that periodic disinfection or 

 fumigation is necessary, but rejected fruit should never be 

 allowed to remain long in the building or its vicinity. 



