102 GARDEN FARMING 



transported great distances with perfect safety and satisfaction. 

 The great losses which were reported in citrus fruits shipped 

 under refrigeration were found to be due more to rough handling 

 either at picking time or in the packing house than to defective 

 transportation conditions. 



While no experiments comparable to those carried on with cit- 

 rus fruit have been tried with vegetables, we are convinced that the 

 same laws will hold good within certain limits. Gardeners have 

 long known that their products would carry better and present a 

 much more attractive appearance in the market if harvested dur- 

 ing the cooler part of the day, especially early in the morning 

 when they are full of sap and, as botanists say, in a "turgid" 

 condition, rather than at the close of the day when they are wilted 

 or " flagged." This, in a way, shows what may be expected from 

 precooling highly perishable vegetables in connection with refriger- 

 ation in transit. 



While the area of production has been greatly extended and the 

 supply to our markets made almost continuous throughout the 

 twelve months of the year by means of rapid transportation and 

 refrigeration, yet by taking advantage of conditions such as pack- 

 ing in the cool of the morning, immediately placing the product 

 in the shade or, preferably, in a cold-storage compartment, and 

 loading from a cold-storage compartment directly into the iced 

 refrigerator car, great improvement may be secured in the quality 

 of vegetables shipped from distant fields of production. 



At the present time many of the vegetables which have been 

 produced for distant markets are of the Ben Davis type. With 

 these refinements in handling and in transportation may we not 

 expect high quality in our vegetables ? 



Cold storage. Cold storage will probably never be of as great im- 

 portance to the vegetable grower as it is to the fruit grower. Only 

 a few of our highly perishable vegetables can be held in cold stor- 

 age long enough to lengthen the season materially. The supply of 

 short-season perishable vegetables must come largely from a suc- 

 cession of plantings in different latitudes, supplemented by green- 

 house facilities. Many of our garden products which, like fruits, 

 have a definite season and distinctive cultural zone, can be held 

 several months without the intervention of cold storage. Cabbage, 



