UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 



Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief 



Washington, D. C. 



August 15, 1921 



THE RELATION OF WATER-RAKING TO THE 

 KEEPING QUALITY OF CRANBERRIES. 



By Neil E. Stevens, Paiholocjist, and H. F. Bergman, formerly Scientific Assistant, 

 Fruit-Disease Inrestigations. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Methods of har vesting cranberries 1 



Storage conditions 2 



Present practice in water-raking 3 



Important factors in drying cranberries 3 



Injury during submergence 4 



Age of the berry at the time of submer- 

 gence -4 



Temperature of the water ^ 



Oxygen content of the water 5 



Oxygen content of waters used in flooding 



cranberry marshes in Wisconsin 6 



Experimental tests of the keeping quality of 



water-raked cranberries 7 



Summary ii 



Practical suggestions 11 



Literature cited 12 



METHODS OF HARVESTING CRANBERRIES. 



THE GREATER PART of the cranberry crop of the United States 

 is harvested dry, being either picked by hand or gathered by 

 scoops or rakes of various designs. Most growers, indeed, take great 

 care not to allow the berries to be picked when wet with dew. The 

 practice of water-raking — that is, of flooding the bog and raking off 

 the berries as they float on or near the surface of the water — has, 

 however, developed to some extent in Wisconsin and has given rise to 

 so much discussion as to its effect on the keeping quality of the fruit 

 that the question has been made the subject of a special investiga- 

 tion by the writers. 



The present bulletin, which deals with the water-raking problem 

 only in its relation to the keeping quality of the fruit, is based on 

 investigational work in Wisconsin extending over three seasons. In 

 1918 a general study was made of harvesting methods and conditions 

 throughout the cranberry regions of the State, and Wisconsin berries 

 were followed through the storage season in the markets of Minne- 

 apolis and Chicago. In 1919 attention was confined chiefly to a 



•ISSIO'— 21— Bull. 900 



