16 BULLETIN 331, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



spections on withdrawal and 6 days after withdrawal being shown. 

 After 10 days in the iced car the carefully handled fruit had devel- 

 oped only 0.7 per cent of decay, as against 3.5 per cent for that com- 

 mercially handled. Six days after withdrawal, the carefully handled 

 fruit had developed 2.1 per cent of decay, as against 8.7 per cent for 

 that commercially handled. After 15 days in the iced car the care- 

 fully handled fruit showed 0.4 per cent of decay and the commercially 

 handled fruit 7.1 per cent of decay. Six days after withdrawal, this 

 series had developed 3.7- per cent of decay in the carefully handled 

 fruit, as against 16.6 per cent in the fruit handled in the ordinary 

 commercial manner. 



The commercially handled fruit had developed during a transit 

 period of 10 days almost five times as much decay as the fruit handled 



CAREFULLY HANDLED 



/*£& C£/VTD£CAY 



DAYS IN ICED 



on withdrawal 

 six' days later 



N DAYS IN ICED 



ON' WITHDRAWAL 

 SIX DAYS LATER 



Y DAYS 1 N ICED 



ON WITHDRAWAL ' 

 SIX DAYS LATER 



COMMERCIALLY 



P£R CENT DECAV 



HANDLED 



30 



1 ' " 1 ' ITEN 

 | .r 



in z.> 



FIFTEI 



1 O A 

 f 37 



TWEN1 



9 a 7 



llllllllllllllllllllll 6.9 



CARl ' 1 ' 1 ' 



3.5 SB 



' 1 ' ' 



a.7 lllill 



CAR 



>6£ll!llllllllllllll|llllllllllll!IIIIIIII!!S 



CAR 



6.B ffBffffj 



-Z3.3|||!|||||||||||||||||||||||||||l|||||!|||!||||!||!!|||!i||g 





Fig. 4. — Diagram illustrating the percentages of decay in carefully and commercially 

 handled prunes, Salem, Oreg., 1911. 



carefully, and after holding for 6 days on the market the com- 

 mercially handled fruit still showed four times as much decay as 

 that carefully handled. The same relative differences hold true for 

 the 15 and 20 day periods. 



These figures illustrate strikingly the important relation of 

 handling to the decay of prunes in transit and clearly bring out the 

 need of great improvement in handling methods before prunes can 

 be successfully and profitably shipped from this section in a green or 

 fresh condition. While the decay developed in the commercially 

 handled fruit on arrival is not proportionately large, it is sufficient 

 to affect seriously the market value of the fruit, especially in view 

 of the rather rapid development of decay under market holding 

 conditions. It must also be borne in mind that all of these lots were 

 held in an iced refrigerator car under very favorable conditions, the 

 fruit cooling very much faster than it would in a full carload and 

 generally being held under more favorable temperatures and con- 

 ditions than would be the case under ordinary transit conditions. 



