2 BULLETIN 7U^ U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



ticed that a retailer w^o h.a,^ unsound and unattractive fruit in his 

 store has blocked his sale of cranberries." As the trade becomes more 

 and more critical, not only of cranberries but of other fruits, the 

 time is rapidh' approaching when (2, p. 30) " growers must recognize 

 the absolute necessity of producing fruit that will be sound when it 

 goes before the consumer." 



PLAN OF THE PRESENT WORK. 



The senior writer has carried on investigations of the diseases of 

 cranberries since 1901. During the past two years (1916 and 1917), 

 however, the problem has been taken up with special reference to the 

 losses which occur after picking. Field work and storage experi- 

 ments have been carried on in Massachusetts and New Jersey; labora- 

 tory studies of material shipped from these areas and from Wiscon- 

 sin, Michigan, Oregon, Maine, and West Virginia have been made at 

 Washington, D. C. ; fruit has been inspected and studied in most of 

 the important markets east of the Mississippi River ; and experimen- 

 tal shipments have been made from cranberry-growing centers to 

 Washington, New York, and Chicago. So far as practicable, the 

 field work in New Jersey and in Massachusetts has been conducted 

 along similar lines, in order to avoid errors due to peculiar local con- 

 ditions. 



The investigations in Massachusetts have been carried on in co- 

 operation with the Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 the woi'k at the State bog at East Wareham being in charge of Dr. 

 H. J. Franklin (4, 5). Prof. F. W. Morse, of the experiment sta- 

 tion, has also taken up certain important phases of cranberrj^ respi- 

 ration in relation to spoilage. While the investigations are not yet 

 complete, the present paper aims to present the more important re- 

 sults and the conclusions thus far obtained in order that they may 

 be immediately available to cranberry growers. 



CAUSES OF CRANBERRY SPOILAGE. 



The spoilage of cranberries is due in general to one or more of the 

 following causes : Freezing, insect work, bruising, drying out, natural 

 ripening processes, fungous rots, and smothering. The writers pro- 

 pose to employ the term smothering to designate the pathological 

 conditions produced in fruits by sufficient interference with respira- 

 tion, whatcA'er the cause of this interference. 



As the cause of freezing and the means of its prevention are well 

 understood and the work of insects is outside the province of this 

 paper, these two causes of spoilage will not be discussed. 



BRUISING. 



LoiBS due to bruising is by no means confined to actual crushing of 

 berries by careless handling or spilling in sorting or packing houses, 



