SPOILAGE OF CEANBERRIES AFTER HARVEST. 



13 



Table VI. — Shipping tests of cranberries in different types of containers during 



1916 and 1911. 





Year. 



Point of shipment. 



Point of receipt and 

 examination. 



Percentage of sjKJilage. 



Variety. 



In tight 

 barrel. 



In venti- 

 lated crate. 



Early Black 



1916 

 1916 

 1916 

 11917 

 917 



East Wareham, Mass. . 

 South Wareham, Mass. 

 East Wareham, Mass. . 

 do 



Washington, D. C 



Li vermore Falls, Me.. 

 Washington, D. C 



38 

 23 

 21 

 22 

 13 



29 



Do 



16 



Howe 



11 



Do 



ol8 



Do 



Wareham, Mass 



New York 



9 









o Ventilated half-barrel box. 



In this connection it may be noted that cranberries color better in 

 well-ventilated containers. 



Careful Handliner. 



DECAY INCREASED BY BBUISING. 



Bruises caused in harvesting, separating, or sorting cranberries 

 form, as already stated, an important cause of increased decay. This 

 was strikingly shown by a test made at Whitesbog, N. J., in 1916, 

 using Centennial cranberries immediately after harvesting, before 

 they had been separated or sorted. Each berry in a 10-pound sample 

 was examined critically for the presence of scratches, bruises, or 

 other blemishes which were so slight as not to be noticed in a casual 

 inspection or picked out by the most careful sorter. Nearly one- 

 fourth of the berries were found to be so injured ; all of them were 

 marketable and, to the inspector, apparently sound; they showed no 

 signs of fungous decay. The injured and uninjured berries were 

 placed in separate ventilated corrugated paper boxes and left in the 

 storage house for two months. At the end of that time they were 

 reexamined and the results noted, as shown in Table VII. 



Table VII. 



—Relation of slight injuries to the keeping quality of cranberries, 

 as shown by a test made at Whitesbog, N. J., in 1916. 



Condition before storage. 



Number of 

 berries. 



Rotten after being 

 stored two months. 





Number. 



Per cent. 



Sound 



2,171 

 697 



97 

 316 



4.5 





45.3 







Table VII shows that after two months in storage there was ten 

 times as much rot among the previously bruised berries as in the 

 sound ones. Many of these unnoticed injuries occur in each process 

 of handling the fruit. This emphasizes the need of care and of 



