SPOILAGE OF CKANBERRIES AFTER HARVEST. 



11 



ventilators should be open during cool weather and closed when the 

 temperature of the outside air rises above that of the storehouse. 



As already stated, cranberries which are held in the chaff and 

 shipped during cold weather are frequently brought from a cold to 

 a warm room for sorting. In order that sorters may work com- 

 fortably and efficiently the room in which the work is done must 

 be at a temperature of at least 15° C. (60° F.), while the fruit in 

 storage is often at a much lower temperature. If cool cranberries 

 are held in a warmer room long enough for proper screening, their 

 temperature is considerably raised, and if they are barreled in this 

 room the higher temperature may be maintained long enough to 

 affect their keeping quality seriously. As an instance of the injury 

 to keeping quality which may result from such treatment, a test 

 made in the fall of 1916 may be cited. Equal quantities of Early 

 Black cranberries were taken from a barrel which had been kept 

 for some time at a temperature of 7° to 10° C. (45° to 50° F.). One 

 portion was taken to a warm room, about 24° C. (75° F.), and care- 

 fully hand sorted, the process taking in all about 40 minutes, after 

 which the sound berries were returned to the original temperature. 

 An equal portion was sorted in the cool room. At the end of 10 

 days the two lots were again sorted, with the results shown in 

 Table V. 



Table V. 



-Comparative results of sorting cranberries in warm and in cool 

 rooms, in the autumn of 1916. 



Treatment. 



Number of 

 berries. 



Berries rotten 10 days 

 after sorting. 





Num.ber. 



Per cent. 





973 



968 



153 



88 



17 



Sorted in a cool room 









To avoid loss from this source and from wetting the fruit by con- 

 densation from the air, berries should not be sorted in a heated room 

 unless necessary. When weather conditions make this imperative 

 they should be removed from the warm room as soon as possible 

 and should not be packed in the sorting room. Packing in a warm 

 room means including in the barrel a quantity of warm air, which 

 in a tight package retains its heat for a considerable time. 



Perhaps the most efficient means of overcoming this difficulty is 

 one that can be readily arranged where sorting belts are used. This 

 method is used by at least two growers, one in Massachusetts and the 

 other in New Jersey. The separators and packers are in a large room 

 which. is kept at the temperature of the fruit, while the belts carry- 

 ing the fruit to be sorted pass through a smaller inside room which 



