22 



BULLETIN" 274, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



While the aggregate of fruit used in these investigations was large, 

 the quantity of fruit inspected each time for any part of a single ex- 

 periment or test was necessarily limited, and such slight discrepancies 

 as occur in Table I and others usually result from occasional bad 

 decay in a single cup or crate. 



Table I. — Decay in carefully handled and commercially handled red raspberries 

 held in an iced car at Puyallup, Wash., in 1911. 



Time in iced car. 



Decay on withdrawal. 



Decay 1 day after withdrawal. 



Carefully 

 handled. 



Commercially Carefully 

 handled. handled. 



Commercially 

 handled. 



4 days . 

 6 days 

 8 days. 



Per cent. 



0.4 

 .2 

 2.2 



Per cent. 



4.6 



9.9 



26.7 



Per cent. 



1.0 



3.8 

 8.1 



Per cent. 



17.5 

 31.9 



47.6 



MARKET-HOLDING TESTS. 



One-half of the fruit from each withdrawal was held one day 

 under ordinary market conditions and another determination of 

 decay and deterioration was made. The result of these inspections 

 is even more striking than of those made on withdrawal. This is 

 self-evident when allowance is made for the extremely favorable 

 conditions existing for the development of mold or deterioration 

 when fruit is exposed to contact with warm air. Imperfections or 

 injuries due to improper and rough handling, as well as overripe 

 berries, offer the maximum conditions for spoilage. The carefully 

 handled fruit held four days in the refrigerator car and one day 

 after withdrawal developed 1 per cent of decay, the commercially 

 handled 17.5 per cent. The after-withdrawal inspections of the 

 6-day lot showed 3.8 per cent of decay in the carefully handled and 

 31.8 per cent of decay in the commercially handled fruit, while similar 

 inspections of the 8-day lots showed 8.1 per cent of decay in the care- 

 fully handled and 17.6 per cent in the commercially handled berries. 

 Figure 17 brings out most strikingly these differences and the relation 

 of handling to keeping quality. 



From this showing it is safe to assume that fruit handled with the 

 proper degree of care can be shipped fully twice the present distance, 

 or a distance representing a haul of 4,000 miles, as against a 2,000- 

 mile haul for ordinarity handled fruit. This assumption is further 

 strengthened and the results in 1911 further corroborated by the re- 

 sults of the careful-handling work during the season of 1912, when a 

 series of actual shipments was made to Grand Forks, N. Dak. The 

 fruit held in the iced car at Puyallup the previous season was really 

 under more favorable conditions than exist in a fully loaded refrig- 

 erator car, as the holding car was only partially filled and the rate 



