16 BULLETIN 531, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



crates without refrigeration, some of the berries were washed in the 

 tubs of water which had been previously used for the washing of 

 se\ era 1 bushels of commercial berries, some were washed in clean run- 

 ning water, and the remainder were not washed. All washed berries 

 were dried for a few minutes in the shade. They were then packed 

 by professional packers (all berries in each shipment being packed 

 by one operator) and sent to Washington, where records were taken 

 upon a careful inspection of each berry. The results of these experi- 

 ments are summarized in Table II. 



Table II. — Infection resulting from, washing straivbcrries in a commercial 



manner. 



Treatment of fruit, if any. 



Number 

 of berries. 



Sound 



after 



arrival. 



Not washed 



Washed in clean water 



Washed in dirty water used in the packing house . 



716 

 1,153 

 1,067 



Per cent. 

 37 

 35 

 17 



The generally low average of sound fruit was due to the length 

 of time the berries had been kept at room temperature after reach- 

 ing their destination. In northern markets, however, one frequently 

 finds berries which contain no higher proportion of sound fruit. 

 The results given in Table II indicated that the commercial method 

 of washing berries was injurious to their shipping qualities and 

 also that this injury would be largely overcome by the use of clean 

 water. The frequent changing of water in the tub usually would 

 not be inconvenient in Florida, for wells and pumps often are located 

 at or near the packing houses. 



DRYING BERRIES AFTER WASHING. 



As already mentioned, a few growers make a practice of packing 

 their fruit wet, though most of them expose it to the air, either 

 in the shade of the packing house or, more frequently, in the sun, 

 until most of the water has evaporated from the surfaces of the 

 berries. Experiments were undertaken to determine the relative 

 effects of these different methods from the standpoint of inhibiting 

 the growth of Rhizopus in the fruit. 



When berries are dried they are spread upon cloth-covered frames 

 or packing tables. These cloth covers usually are not renewed 

 during a shipping season. Often they are soaked with juice from 

 the strawberries, and it was suspected that they might serve as 

 carriers of infection to fruit spread upon them. Numerous careful 

 experiments for the determination of this point, however, gave 



