HANDLING LETTUCE AND CELERY. 



11 



harmful effect on lettuce, and, in fact the. exclusion of air from the 

 center of the packages may result in a more rapid deterioration than 

 is the case when the heads are removed from the hampers and exposed 

 to the air. 



Table III. — Average market condition of sixteen experimental lots of carefully cut and com- 

 mercially cut lettuce held six days in an iced car at Palmetto, Fla., during the season of 

 1918-H. 







At withdrawal. 



Three days after withdrawal. 



Treatment. 



Carefully 

 cut. 



Commer- 

 cially cut. 



Repacked. 



Undisturbed. 





Carefully 

 cut. 



Commer- 

 cially cut. 



Carefully 

 cut. 



Commer- 

 cially cut. 



Nonprecooled: 



Marketable heads 



Preeooled: 



Prime heads 



Marketable heads 



do 



do.... 



do.... 



90 

 100 



98.4 

 100 



40.1 

 93.3 



70.9 

 99.5 



32.2 

 87.3 



65.6 

 90 



3.4 

 51.3 



15.8 

 75.6 



31.8 

 81.5 



53.8 

 94.3 



4.1 

 49.5 



9.4 

 63. 4 



The summary of the holding experiments shown in Table III is 

 even more striking than the summary of the shipping lots shown in 

 Table I. The •effect on the carrying quality of the lettuce of the 

 different methods of handling employed was relatively the same in 



PRECOOLED N0N PR EC 00 LED 



AFTER SIX DAYS IN ICED CAR 



PER CENT DECAY 



SO 8° '0 60 50 40 30 20 10 



PER CENT DECAY 



80 90 100 



11.6 CAREFUL 10.0 SSI 



iiiinniiiTTrms commercial 5fl7 iimin i nnninn i ii i n i m 

 THREE DAYS AFTER WITHDRAWAL (repacked lots) 



WMIIH25.7 CAREFUL 526| 



lIllll ll l l l ll l l ll l ll lll l ll lHlll ll linn 78.3f.nMMFRflAI94S llll l l ll lll l l limill l ll l lll II III II i 



Fig. 9.— Diagram illustrating the percentages of drop decay upon withdrawal from the car and three days 

 later in preeooled and in nonprecooled commercially cut and carefully cut lettuce held at Palmetto, 

 Fla., season of 1913-14. 



both lots, but there was considerably more deterioration in the Jots 

 held at Palmetto, owing to the prevailing higher temperature. Here, 

 again, the effect of careful cutting is shown most markedly. Over 

 98 per cent of the carefully cut preeooled lettuce was in prime con- 

 dition at the end of six days, as compared with less than 71 per 

 cent in that commercially cut. In the nonprecooled lots the care- 

 fully cut lettuce showed an average of 90 per cent of prime heads 



. 



