FREEZING INJURY TO POTATOES WHEN UNDERCOOLED. 9 



EXPERIMENT NO. 4. 



Duplicate lots of two potatoes of each variety were held at 28° F. 

 for 24 hours, after which all of one lot were dropped 1 foot. After 

 another 24 hours all were removed. Examination showed no bruis- 

 ing; however, most of the potatoes were frozen. The results are 

 shown in Table IV. 



Table IV. — Freezing injury to potatoes of seven different varieties undercooled 

 at 28° F. and dropped 1 foot. 



Variety. 



Dropped. 



Injured. 



Triumph 



Irish Cobbler 



SpauldingNo. 4... 

 American Giant . . . 

 Rural New Yorker. 



Russet Rural 



Green Mountain. . . 



Total 



Uninjured. 



Check. 



Injured. 



Uninjured. 



EXPERIMENT NO. 5. 



A total of 24 potatoes of the Rural New Yorker variety were placed 

 at 28° F. After 24 hours 12 were dropped 12 inches. In no case was 

 a potato bruised or even the skin broken. In 4 hours both lots were 

 removed. Examination showed all of the lot that was dropped to 

 be injured by freezing. None of the check lot was injured. 



EXPERIMENT NO. 6. 



This experiment was conducted to ascertain, if possible, the mini- 

 mum distance from which an undercooled potato may fall and still 

 succumb to freezing injury. Five lots of 12 potatoes of the Rural 

 New Yorker variety were held at 28° F. for 18 hours. Then lots 

 were dropped 2, 4, and 6 inches, and in one lot each individual was 

 struck with a pencil. After seven hours all were removed. Examina- 

 tion showed that only the potatoes that were struck with the pencil 

 were injured. 



EXPERIMENT NO. 7. 



Lots of three potatoes of each variety were dropped, as in experi- 

 ment Xo. 6, with the exception that each potato was dropped six times 

 instead of once. The results are shown in Table V. Practically the 

 same amount of freezing injury was produced in all dropped pota- 

 toes without relation to the length of the fall. The injury produced 

 was of the blotch type. It may be stated here that the potatoes used 

 in this experiment were purposely selected and weighed, so as to have 

 both large and small specimens in each lot, thus varying the force of 



