18° 



BULLETIN" 601, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



esting to compare Table IX with Table IV, which records a con- 

 siderably lower percentage of decay for the season of 1913-14. In 

 some cases the average percentages of decay in 1914-15 were several 

 times greater than in 1913-14. For example, the nonprecooled care- 

 fully handled lettuce showed only 1.4 per cent of heads with bad 

 drop-rot in 1913-14, whereas the following year the comparable 

 lot showed 12.3 per cent. 



Table IX. — Average percentages of decay in seven experimental lots of carefully cut and 

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

 of 1914-15. ' 





' 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: 



Heads showing slight drop-rot, per 



37.5 

 12.3 



45.2 

 42 



47.6 

 40.3 



22.2 

 71.2 



40.3 

 40.9 



19.4 



Heads showing bad drop-rot . per cent . . 



80 



Total drop-rot 1 do 



49.8 



87.2 



87.9 



93.4 



81.2 



99.4 



Heads showing bacterial rot ... .do 



.4 



5.1 



10.8 



15.8 



15 



21.1 



Precooled: 



Heads showing slight drop-rot . .do 



Heads showing bad drop-rot do 



17.8 

 2 



40.7 

 12.8 



60 7 

 6.7 



44.3 

 47 



64.4 

 8.3 



35.6 

 45.2 



Total drop-rot i do 



19.8 



53.5 



67.4 



91.3 



72.7 



80.8 



Heads showing bacterial rot do 



1.2 







5.2 



13.6 



13.8 



22.6 



1 In some cases both drop and bacterial decay were found on the same head. As these diseases were 

 recorded separately the total of all forms of decay may appear to amount to more than 100 per cent in some 

 instances. 



In spite of the naturally inferior quality of the lettuce in 1914-15, 

 the results of both the precooling and the handling work are very 

 marked. The tables and diagrams will bear very close analysis, as 

 they contain much more information than can be given in this brief 

 discussion. 



CELERY-HANDLING INVESTIGATIONS. 



NATURE OF THE PROBLEM. 



The celery-handling investigations were conducted at Manatee and 

 Palmetto, Fla., mainly during the spring of 1915. At this season 

 of the year high temperatures usually prevail in Florida and frequently 

 occur throughout the North. When the celery is hauled from the 

 fields to the car to be loaded, a temperature as high as 80° to 85° F. 

 is by. no means uncommon. The cars are loaded rapidly and the 

 doors closed, confining all the heat within. It is manifestly impossible 

 for the ice in the bunkers at either end of the car to reduce the heat 

 to a safe temperature in as short a time as is desirable. As a matter 

 of fact, the cooling that takes place in such a car is necessarily uneven 



