SHIPMENT OF RED RASPBERBIES. 27 



A comparison of the figures and diagrams should be sufficient. 

 The immediate lots showed 7.1 per cent of decay as against 27.7 per 

 cent of decay in the delayed lots of the same fruit after four days 

 in the car. At the second inspection, after six days in the car, the 

 immediate lots had 16.9 per cent of decay as against 38.7 per cent 

 of decay for the delayed berries, and at the end of the 8-day period 

 the immediate lots showed 30.2 per cent of decay as against 50.4 per 

 cent of decay in the delayed fruit. The inspections one day later are 

 equally striking and convincing. These results serve to emphasize 

 further the importance of protecting the fruit after picking from 

 undue exposure to the sun and of getting the fruit under refrigera- 

 tion quickly. 



PRECOOLING EXPERIMENTS. 



In the precooling experiments with red raspberries at Puyallup 

 during the season of 1911, it was not possible to combine the careful- 

 handling investigations with precooling. The precooling tests in- 

 cluded, therefore, only commercially handled lots. The precooling 

 was accomplished by means of the portable ammonia plant of the 

 Department of Agriculture, both before and after loading the fruit 

 in the cars. For the warehouse precooling tests — cooling before 

 loading — a refrigerator car was used as a warehouse cooling room 

 by putting in a false floor and ceiling and the fruit loaded into the 

 car was cooled by forcing the cold air from the precooling plant 

 under and through the false floor and the fruit. After cooling, the 

 fruit was transferred into another pre-iced refrigerator car for 

 shipment, the loading being done through a canvas hood to protect 

 tin- fruit from contact with the warm outside air. Only a few tests 

 were made with this outfit. 



Most of the precooling tests were made with fully loaded cars, 

 the cold air being forced in one bunker through the fruit and taken 

 out at the other bunker and back to the plant for recooling. It was 

 not practicable to obtain inspections at the market end, and therefore 

 marked urates from the precooled cars, together with check crates 

 of i lit- -nine fruit nonprecooled, were held in an iced car for four, 

 M.\. a n< I eight davs. In most cases the average temperatures of the 

 fruit in the precooled cars were reduced to about 40°, the initial 

 temperatures being often above 70° V. 



The results of tin- work', while decidedly beneficial in most re- 

 spects, emphasize Strikingly, as in (he case of many other fruits used 

 in similar tests, thai precooling can never be depended upon to ac- 

 complish nearly a- much as careful handling. While precooling 

 proved decidedly beneficial, if did nol in any measure overcome the 



bad effects of rough. Careless, and improper handling. The most 



