54 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



rel'riiiorated building be can prol)ably put up his own, if ho 

 is a large grower, cheaper than he can rent space in a com- 

 mercial house. The usual price for the storage of a barrel 

 of apples during the season is 40 to 50 cents. Assuming 

 that a man is growing 1,000 barrels of apples he would pay 

 $500 for storage, which is 5 per cent on $10,000. ISTow it is 

 usually considered that a refrigerated plant can be put up 

 for from $2.50 to $3.50 per barrel capacity, so that the 

 man who is raising 1,000 barrels and putting them in cold 

 storage is paying the interest on a plant that would store 

 from 2,000 to 4,000 barrels. 



Sixth and lastly, the plant must be operated cheaply. I 

 propose to tell you what our college plant has cost. Others 

 will vary of course, but to be profitable the plant 7nust be 

 reasonable in running expenses. 



For our purpose this morning we may classify apple stor- 

 age under three heads : — 



1. What is ordinarily known as " frost-proof storage," 

 where the temperature of the outside air is depended upon 

 to bring the temperature of the room down to the desired 

 point. 



2. Refrigerated storage, in which the '' cold " is produced 

 by means of ammonia or some other gas. 



3. Refrigerated storage, in which the " cold " is produced 

 by ice. 



The writer believes that all three of these systems are 

 adapted to the fruit business, but especially the first and 

 last ; and as the college has recently installed a plant in which 

 there is a combination of these two methods, it is proposed 

 to spend a little time in discussing them. 



The " frost-proof " section of our building includes three 

 large rooms, with a combined capacity of some 2,000 barrels. 

 The windows are equipped with heavy insulated shutters 

 which may be easily closed when desired, and our method 

 of handling the rooms is to start in the autumn and keep 

 the windows open M'henever the outside air is colder than 

 that in the room. As soon as the outside temperature goes 

 up the windows are promptly closed, and by careful attention 

 to this plan the temperature may be forced down to a reason- 



