ELEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 123 



Prof. G. H. Powell : Mr. President and Gentlemen — There 

 is no more important subject that could be discussed by those 

 who are interested in the keeping of fruit and farm products 

 than this subject of cold storage. In fact, the profits of the apple 

 business and the pear business hinge primarily upon the ability 

 to keep those fruits longer than through their natural seasons 

 by means of cold storage. The cold storage business, as 

 developed within the last decade, is one of the most important 

 auxiliaries that the American fruit grower has to-day as an 

 aid to his business. We hardly appreciate, I think, how much 

 cold storage means to the fruit growers of America. Out in 

 our western country, where they have a long, hot fall, it is 

 impossible for them to develop the fruit business without the 

 aid of something to carry the fruit through the warm fall months 

 and over to the time when proper markets can be found for 

 them. This business has developed so largely within the last 

 three years, and so perfectly, that the cold storage men them- 

 selves have made every effort to develop their houses to a high 

 degree of perfection. There are many cold storage houses in 

 this country that will carry an atmosphere for from six to nine 

 months, without the variation of a single degree, right through 

 the season. On the other hand, there are a great many dififi- 

 culties that the cold storage men have to contend with. They 

 are not as yet agreed as to the temperature which is best adapted 

 to certain types of fruit. You will find that the storage men 

 are not agreed as to the temperature at which they want to 

 keep pears. They will vary several degrees in their estimations ; 

 some advocating from 35 to 38 degrees, and others from 30 

 to 33 and 34. To some extent that is also true of apples. 

 Then the* fruit itself varies as to its condition. 



For instance ; a cold storage man has a shipment of twenty 

 carloads a day, and the fruit comes in, all apparently in the 

 same or similar condition so far as the eye will tell, and yet 

 one carload goes down in three months and another carload 

 will keep a year ; and so the storage men have come to feel 

 that there is a good deal to be learned about this subject, and 

 the growers, on the other hand, feel that there is a good deal 

 that ought to be worked out in regard to the matter. Now 

 I want to say right here that the growers as a rule, when their 

 fruit does not come out in good shape, are like some types of 



