HANDLING AND SHIPPING FRESH CHERRIES AND PRUNES. 7 



fully handled lots of fruit two days after withdrawal from the car 

 and after holding under ordinary market conditions for 5, 10, and 

 15 day transit periods showed, respectively, 3.5, 3.5, and 7.3 per cent 

 of decay. The comparable commercially handled fruit two days 

 after withdrawal showed 10.8, 21.4, and 26.1 per cent of decay, re- 

 spectively, after corresponding transit periods. The commercially 

 handled fruit in the car for - 10 days and held for two days under 

 open-market conditions developed more than six times the decay 

 found in the same fruit when carefully handled. 



RELATION OF HANDLING AND CULTURAL PRACTICES TO DECAY. 



The striking results obtained in the careful-handling experiments 

 indicate that if proper care is exercised in handling, picking, hauling, 

 and packing, the shipment of cherries in a fresh state as far as Chi- 

 cago would be entirely practicable. With the present commercial- 

 handling methods, however, the long-distance shipment of fresh 

 sweet cherries is not likely to prove uniformly profitable or success- 

 ful, not only on account of the decay occurring in transit but because 

 of the great amount of decay that develops during only a 2-day hold- 

 ing period on the market. Even though cherries can be delivered in 

 fairly sound condition through careful attention to the details of 

 handling, precooling, and refrigeration in transit, the problem of the 

 successful shipment of cherries in a fresh state from the Willamette 

 Valley and sections with similar climatic conditions involves more 

 than harvesting and shipping practices alone. 



The humid climate and frequent rains during the harvesting sea- 

 son render fruits like cherries and prunes extremely subject to seri- 

 ous attack by brown-rot. Eains during the harvesting season cause 

 considerable splitting, especially with certain varieties of cherries, 

 and while the badly cracked cherries are usually all graded out, it is 

 impossible to grade out all the fruit affected with brown-rot. This 

 type of decay in a package spreads very rapidly to adjoining fruits 

 by contact, and in this respect is unlike the common molds, such as 

 Penicillium and Botrytis, which depend largely on injuries for en- 

 trance. During some seasons brown-rot is not very serious. Never- 

 theless, if the growers of cherries make a business of fresh-fruit ship- 

 ping, success will depend not only upon the exercise of proper care in 

 handling but also upon correct cultural and spraying practices. 



WHAT CONSTITUTES CAREFUL HANDLING. 



The question of what constitutes the careful handling of cherries 

 may, perhaps, be partially answered by describing the methods used 

 in picking and packing the experimental lots. The cherries, as is 

 customary, were picked by grasping the stems and exercising care not 



