368 



the fruit, which is stored at a temperature two or three degrees above 

 freezing point. Although the chemical processes which go on during 

 maturation are checked at these temperatures, yet decomposition is 

 not stayed to the same extent, and the gases and germs and injurious 

 juices which come out of any fruit which happen to decay inside 

 that air-tight bag are thus brought into closer contact with the 

 contents of the box. 



COLD STORAGE FOB FRUIT 



Constitutes at the present time one of the safest and cheapest 

 methods of dealing with fruit at times of glut of the market. It is 

 often, with fruit and other perishable products, either a feast or a 

 famine, but with more precise knowledge regarding methods of 

 picking and packing, and also of cold storage, which private as well 

 as public commercial enterprise has placed within the reach of all, 

 it is now practicable to withhold fruit from the market when it is 

 most abundant and when prices are low, and offer it for sale with 

 profit when it becomes scarce. 



The profits, however, are not so large as they would appear to 

 some, and there are risks to face and costs to incur in holding a 

 crop over. The fruit, for instance, must possess keeping qualities; 

 some are of such a kind that nothing will prevent speedy deteriora- 

 tion. Most summer apples, it is well known, will soon, however 

 carefully handled, go mealy and rot ; most grapes are bad keepers ; 

 strawberries will, under no circumstances, keep more than a couple 

 of days or so. Moreover, the fruit may, on account of bad 

 cultivation, rough handling, or attacks by insect pests and blights, 

 fail to keep well, although the variety itself is known to possess 

 good keeping qualities. To risks and losses due to the causes just 

 enumerated must be added cost of handling, re-sorting, and 

 re-packing, also, rent of cold storage room, which all tend to greatly 

 reduce the profits to the grower or the dealer. 



The conditions required for preserving fruit in cold storage are 

 pure, dry, cold air, and the following table, issued by the Kansas 

 Experimental Station, shows the temperatures which, for certain 

 products, give the best results : 



