10 BULLETIN 1072, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 



Observations indicate that this same relationship of temperature 

 and humidity during the growing season to keeping quality holds in 

 regard to many other deciduous fruits, though not necessarily in the 

 same degree as with Bartlett pears. Plums, prunes, cherries, apricots, 

 and other fruits seem to show a similar tendency toward poor keep- 

 ing quality when grown under particularly cool conditions, but they 

 have not been studied in sufficient detail to warrant a definite state- 

 ment. 



MARKETING BARTLETT PEARS FROM DIFFERENT DISTRICTS. 



The trade, through long experience in handling fruit from different 

 sections of the country, has become thoroughly acquainted with the 

 characteristics of pears from different regions. Consequently, the 

 fruit is now utilized largely in the manner to which it is best adapted. 



Fruit dealers in the districts in which the pears produced are of 

 the highest carrying quality usually ship the bulk of their crop to 

 eastern markets. In some regions the early-picked fruit is shipped, 

 but the later picks, which are of poorer carrying quality, are marketed 

 through the canneries. In the coolest regions no attempt is made to 

 ship Bartletts any great distance. They are sold to canneries or 

 marketed locally. 



PRECOOLING PEARS FOR SHIPMENT. 



The advisability of precooling Bartlett pears before shipping is 

 one that varies greatly with the particular district under considera- 

 tion and with the facilities that are available for cooling the fruit. 

 By precooling is meant placing the fruit in a cold-storage room and 

 cooling it thoroughly before loading it into a car or holding a car of 

 fruit on a siding adjacent to a plant equipped to circulate cold air 

 through the car, thus cooling the fruit more quickly than is pos- 

 sible by simply placing ice in the car. 



In those districts in which little difficulty is experienced in getting 

 fruit through to market there is no reason for departure from the 

 present practice. The fruit should be packed as promptly as possible 

 after removal from the tree, loaded into iced refrigerator cars, and 

 started to market at once. At the present time the railroad tariffs 

 allow the addition of salt to the ice in the cars, which greatly hastens 

 cooling. Tests carried on by the Office of Preservation of Fruits 

 and Vegetables in Transit and Storage of the Bureau of Markets 

 and Crop Estimates, United States Department of Agriculture, have 

 shown that 200 pounds of salt added to the ice in each bunker at the 

 time of loading is of very great value in quickly cooling the fruit to 

 the minimum temperature that it is possible to maintain in the car. 



In shipping fruit from districts in which pears have poor carrying 

 qualities, precooling has proved of great value in putting the fruit on 

 the market in good condition. The success or failure of precooling 

 will depend, however, primarily upon the answer to one question, 



