TRANSPORT BY SEA 171 



personally attending to these duties. After a few days at 

 sea the temperatures are generally well in hand, and care 

 has then to be taken to avoid the risk of chilling, the 

 machine being slowed down, and probably one of the 

 compressors disconnected, just sufficient power being 

 developed to maintain the temperature at about 55 F. 

 The condition of the fruit on discharge will depend to some 

 extent upon the market conditions, and if it is to go into 

 consumption immediately, the temperature may be allowed 

 to rise during the last days of the voyage. 



Separate Storage for Bananas. It has been found by 

 practical experience that bananas and oranges cannot 

 advantageously be sent in the same hold. The Director 

 of Agriculture, Jamaica, in his Annual Report for 1 90 9-10, 

 refers to some experiments made in this connexion as 

 follows : 



" Experiments on the gases given off by bananas and 

 oranges, respectively, were carried out at the laboratory. 

 It was shown that oranges gave off a good deal of carbonic 

 acid gas when stored in a closed place, as in a ship's hold, 

 but, on the other hand, carbonic acid was proved to be 

 a wonderful preservative of bananas. It was shown, how- 

 ever, by direct trial, that the emanations from oranges 

 stored in a chamber were found to have the effect of bring- 

 ing about a premature ripening of bananas, if these gases 

 were passed through a chamber laden with this fruit. 

 The practical lesson indicated by these experiments is that 

 separate storage is desirable for citrus fruits and bananas, 

 when they are being transported for long distances by sea." 



Methods of Carrying Bananas without Cool Storage. In 

 the Journal d' Agriculture Tropicale, No. 74, reference was 

 made to an account, in the British and South African Export 

 Gazette, of a method of transporting bananas without the 

 employment of refrigerating chambers. The investigations 

 mentioned * were undertaken in order to find a cheap way 

 of carrying bananas from South Africa, in view of the 

 expensive nature of cool storage during so long a voyage 

 * Agricultural News, x. 1911. 



