HANDLING LETTUCE AND CELERY. 



27 



cooled car as well as the nonprecooled, as the figures in Table XII 

 prove* but it is much more marked in the nonprecooled car. In the 

 precooled car, three times as much decay developed by the end of two 

 weeks in the celery from the top tier as had developed in that from 

 the bottom tier. In the nonprecooled car there was five times as 

 much decay in the celery from the top tier as in that shipped on the 

 floor. The decay in the celery shipped on the floor of the nonpre- 

 cooled car was less than the average for the precooled car. This fact 



PRECOOLED 



PEP CENT DECAY 



NON PRECOOLED 



PER CENT DECAY 



TOTAL DECAY 

 STORED TWO WEEKS 



■■116.1 from TOP TIER of CAR 



Him) 5.6 From BOTTOM TIER of CAR 



TOTAL DECAY 

 STORED FOUR WEEKS 



KHHB3.2 3 



-n top tier of car wma« — 



.80TT0M TIERofCAR M T lllllllll'llllilllllllll 



Fig. 19.— Diagram illustrating the percentages of decay at the end of two weeks and at the end of four 

 weeks in storage at 32° F. in crates of celery from the top and from the bottom tiers in cars of both pre- 

 cooled and nonprecooled celery shipped from Manatee, Fla., to New York, season of 1915. 



indicates that celery from the lower part of a nonprecooled car could 

 be stored for this period with small loss. However, the upper tiers 

 should be placed on the market as promptly as possible, to avoid 

 excessive losses from decay. 



Table XII. — Percentages of decay in celery shipped in the top tier and the bottom tier in 

 precooled and nonprecooled cars. 



Treatment. 



Precooled per cent. 



Nonprecooled , do. . . 



Stored two weeks. 



Top tier. 



16.1 

 40.1 



Bottom 



tier. 



5.6 



7.8 



Stored four weeks. 



Top tier. 



32.3 

 66.7 



Bottom 

 tier. 



13.1 

 20.7 



SUMMARY. 



During the seasons of 1913-14 and 1914-15 investigations were 

 conducted by the Bureau of Plant Industry for the purpose of ascer- 

 taining the causes of losses by decay in lettuce and celery shipped from 

 Florida and to determine practicable means of reducing the same. 



Decay in lettuce in transit was found to be due largely to 

 lettuce drop, a disease which appears to enter the head mainly 

 through the lower leaves. 



