SPOILAGE OF CEANBERRIES AFTER HARVEST. 17 



Table X. — Increase m rot due to the sorting of 

 test made at Wareham, Mass., 



cranberries, as shown by a 

 in 1917. 





Condition noted (per cent). 



Treatment, 



Eotten on 

 Oct. 3. 



Rotten on 

 Nov. 6. 



Total rot. 



Sorted once during storage 



4.3 



15.8 

 11.0 



20.1 



Not sorted during storage 



11.0 









To avoid such losses as have been cited, all berries, especially those 

 of doubtful keeping quality, should be handled as little as possible, 

 they should be cleaned as near the time of shipping as possible, and 

 in sorting care should be exercised not to touch or bruise the berries 

 unnecessarily. It is possible that separating machines may be de- 

 vised which will injure the fruit less than those at present in use. 

 Improvement can certainly be made in the methods of hand sorting. 

 The most thorough sorting is not necessarily the best if it is accom- 

 panied by too much handling of the berries. Sorting belts in which 

 the berries pass from the separator over a slowly moving belt which 

 carries them in front of the sorters and deposits those not removed 

 in a box or barrel at the end have the advantage of making it un- 

 necessary for sorters to handle the fruit roughly, provided there is 

 some device for turning the berries on the belt. An easer^ of some 

 kind should be used to prevent bruising when berries drop into a 

 barrel or other container. 



SHIPPING IN THE CHAFF. 



When berries come from the bog they have more or less leaves, 

 broken vines, or other foreign matter mixed with them. Fruit in 

 this condition is said to be " in the chaff." 



As a result of the knowledge of the fact that the processes of 

 cleaning cranberries increase their tendency to decay and that it is 

 advantageous to place them before the consumer as soon as possible 

 after cleaning, some growers have attempted shipping berries in the 

 chatf and having them cleaned at destination. For berries particu- 

 larly subject to decay after sorting this plan is apparently to be 

 recommended. 



The writers have had the opportunity to test this method in only 

 one instance, a shipment of berries from a bog in Wareham, Mass., 

 to Chicago, 111. Two varieties were used in the experiment, and 

 equal quantities of berries as uniform as could be secured were 

 chosen. Half of each lot was carefully separated and sorted before 

 shipment and the shrinkage noted; the other half was shipped in 

 the chaff. At destination all lots were run through a separator and 

 the shrinkage again noted. The berries were packed in Wareham on 



1 Easer is a term the writers apply to any device for breaking the fall to prevent 

 bruising. 



