No. 4.] STORAGE OF APPLES. 63 



Dr. II. J. WiiEELEK. I would like to ask the speaker 

 whether the use of a wrapping paper which was impervious 

 might not be better than a wrapi)er which is very porous 

 as it would prevent the evaporation of moisture? 



Professor Sears. We have not taken np that matter. The 

 wrapper is largely for holding moisture in the apple, and I 

 shonld snppose that if something impervious, like an oiled 

 wrapper, were nsed, it would be better than ordinary paper, 

 as it would hold the moisture better. 



Dr. H. J. WiiEELEE. I wish you could get your chemist 

 to study the skins of apples exposed to the sun and those not 

 exposed, in order to ascertain what the difference is. It is 

 a most remarkable difference. 



Mr. Fkost. Doesn't the question of moisture have some- 

 thing to do with it ? 



Professor Sears. If you have plenty of moisture the open 

 package would be all right if you kept the room moist enough. 

 The conditions are controlled with the closed package, how- 

 ever, a goqd deal better than they can be controlled over the 

 entire room. 



Mr, C. P. Greenwood. Will a perfectly sound apple be 

 injured by contact with rotten apples ? 



Professor Sears. I think it would depend on wliat was 

 causing the rot. If it were merely a breaking down, a physi- 

 cal change, going on in the rotten apple, I shouldn't think it 

 would hurt. It would hurt the taste, of course. But if it 

 were being destroyed by mold then the germs of that mold 

 would be very likely to get on the other. 



Mr. Greenwood, I heard a fruit grower say some time 

 ago that he didn't believe a perfectly sound apple was in- 

 jured by a rotten one touching it. 



Professor Sears. Perhaps not if you have a perfectly 

 sound apple without a break or weak place on the surface, 

 as mold or disease probably wouldn't get in. The flavor 

 would probably be tainted, as it is in the case of a partly 

 decayed apple. 



Mr. F. A. RiTssELL. I would like to ask if in the construc- 

 tion of a cold-storage plant it would be economical or advisa- 



