HANDLING AND SHIPPING FRESH CHERRIES AND PRUNES. 27 

 SUMMARY OF THE PRUNE INVESTIGATIONS. 



Prune growing is the principal horticultural industry in the section 

 around Salem and in other districts of the Willamette Valley, Oreg. 

 The entire product normally is evaporated. 



If a portion of the crop could be successfully shipped in a fresh 

 state it would be of distinct advantage, at least during certain seasons, 

 in that it would furnish an additional outlet for the profitable dis- 

 posal of the crop. If primes could be successfully and profitably 

 shipped in a fresh state it would stabilize the industry greatly and 

 permit its further profitable development in this and other sections 

 well adapted to prune growing. 



Numerous attempts have been made to ship prunes fresh, but with 

 rather indifferent success. These investigations, undertaken pri- 

 marily to determine the practicability of fresh-prune shipment, in- 

 dicate that by the exercise of proper care in harvesting and proper 

 orchard-sanitation practices prunes can be successfully shipped in a 

 fresh state to markets at least as far east as Chicago. 



As with cherries, success in fresh-prune shipping is dependent 

 upon the elimination of the decay occurring in transit and after 

 arrival on the market, this decay being due either to mechanical 

 abrasions or injuries in handling or to brown-rot with which the 

 fruit has become infected before being removed from the trees. 



The results, both commercial and experimental, indicate that unless 

 a radical improvement is made in the methods of handling as well as 

 in orchard-sanitation practices, entire dependence will have to con- 

 tinue to be placed on evaporation for the disposal of this crop. 



Primes can be picked, hauled, and packed with comparatively little 

 injury and resultant decay, provided the utmost care in picking is 

 exercised to avoid bruising the fruit in placing it in the pail, in trans- 

 ferring it to the orchard box, and in hauling it to the packing house. 



The preservation of the bloom is also a very important considera- 

 tion, and this goes hand in hand with care in handling to avoid in- 

 juries. 



The fruits should be grasped by the pedicel and laid one at a time 

 in the picking pail or bucket. The common practice of holding sev- 

 eral prunes in the hand while picking results in rubbing off the 

 bloom and in considerable bruising and injury, as does the equally 

 common practice of dropping the fruit into either the picking bucket 

 or field box. 



In transferring the fruit to the field box the utmost care should 

 be taken to prevent dropping or violent rolling, both with a view to 

 preventing injury and bruising and to preserving the bloom. 



The fruit should be kept in the shade while in the orchard and 

 hauled to the packing house on wagons provided with good springs. 



