STORAGE OF APPLES IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. 3 
portion of the crop. It is therefore of the utmost importance that 
growers, shippers, warehousemen, and all others concerned in the 
growing, transportation, or marketing of the apple crop know accu- 
rately and definitely (1) what constitutes proper storage facilities, 
and (2) how the fruit should be handled, both in harvesting and in 
storage, in order that it may possess when marketed and offered to 
the consumers the maximum of good condition and quality. 
Jnless the apple crop can be successfully held in good condition 
until it reaches the consumer, all other questions and factors are 
negligible. 
| FUNCTION OF COLD STORAGE. 
For a proper understanding of the behavior of apples in storage 
it must be kept clearly in mind that the apple, like all fruits, is a 
living organism and that its life cycle, which begins in the blossom, 
ends under natural conditions in the death and decay of the fruit. 
When the fruit is picked from the tree its life processes do not stop. 
On the contrary, at ordinary temperatures, they continue as rapidly 
or possibly even more rapidly than before. The function of cold 
storage is primarily to retard these life processes. Its purpose is also 
to retard and prevent the germination of spores of fungi which cause 
the fruit to decay, and to prevent the development of skin blemishes. 
For this purpose a temperature of between 31° and 32° F. is consid- 
ered standard for the apple. No temperature, however, which will 
not seriously injure the fruit by freezing can entirely check its ripen- 
ing processes or the growth of all fungi which cause decay. It is 
obvious, therefore, that fruit allowed to become overripe prior to 
storage can never regain in cold storage the quality and vitality it 
has lost. Neither can cold storage prevent the final decay of fruit 
already infected with decay fungi. Since cultural and handling 
methods largely determine the condition of the fruit when it is 
stored, the first responsibility for its successful storage lies with the 
grower and shipper. 
EXPERIMENTS OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF 
AGRICULTURE. : 
In 1911 the Bureau of Plant Industry began an investigation of 
factors governing the behavior of northwestern apples in cold stor- 
age. Fruit for this purpose was obtained from the Rogue River 
and Hood River valleys of Oregon, and from the Yakima and 
Wenatchee sections of Washington. A considerable amount, also, 
was obtained from other sections in Washington, Idaho, and Mon- 
tana. Between 500 and 600 boxes of apples were used each season 
in the experiments, and as each box was picked and packed by a 
bureau representative or under his immediate supervision, it has 
