352 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 341. 



has taken place before the eyes of its rightful owners, who 

 generally have made no protest because they had no ap- 

 preciation of its value. Even when attention is now called 

 to the robbery it is difficult to organize any efficient resist- 

 ance to it, and it is almost impossible to prevail upon the 

 authorities to make any effort to secure new holdings, 

 however valuable for beauty or association. A report like 

 this is never widely circulated, but it ought to reach the 

 eyes of enough intelligent men to arouse them from 

 their apathy, and if the local newspapers of Massachusetts 

 have any public spirit they will not cease to agitate this matter 

 until the public title to common land is restored wherever 

 such restoration is possible. It is to be feared that in many 

 cases it is already too late for resistance. What the early 

 settlers of the Commonwealth wisely secured for their 

 descendants these recreant children have thrown away by 

 culpable negligence, and unless vigorous action is taken 

 future generations will find themselves shut out from the 

 shores of the sea to which they have an inherited right. 



Cold Storage. 



EXPERIMENTAL attempts at cold storage began in 

 this city eighteen years ago, and developed into a 

 commercial industry three years later. Since then the 

 knowledge of scientists and inventors has been combined 

 with the practical experience and capital of warehousemen, 

 until now the business of cold storage and freezing is a 

 considerable factor in the market-supply of the world. At 

 first the cold air from refrigerators on the ground-floor was 

 forced to storerooms above, but this plan was soon given 

 up for the system, still in limited use, of massing ice at the 

 top of buildings, so that a current of cold air is drawn by 

 gravity through shafts to the lower floors. By this sys- 

 tem only cold storage at thirty-eight degrees and above is 

 possible, while actual freezing is necessary for many 

 classes of goods. One of the nine large cold-storage ware- 

 houses in this city uses a system of metal pipes ten inches 

 in diameter, which encircle storage-rooms. These begin 

 below the "charging-floor," the upper story of the build- 

 ing. Here ice is broken up by hand-power, the sectional 

 trap-doors are lifted, and the pipes, set close beside each 

 other and extending down to the floors below, are closely 

 packed with ice and salt. The drainage from these, which 

 is collected on the second floor, is utilized to cool rooms 

 on the ground-floor to a temperature of forty degrees. 

 This method of cold storage is especially adapted for hold- 

 ing comparatively small amounts of perishable goods, with- 

 out the cost of expensive machinery. 



The system most generally in use, however, is that of 

 producing intense cold by the evaporation of ammonia, and 

 one of the largest and best-equipped cold warehouses uses 

 the so-called "direct expansion " system — which it is not 

 necessary here to explain. In this immense establishment, 

 which comprises in two warehouses 1,500,000 cubic feet of 

 cold storage and freezing space, eight boilers, each of 

 seventy-five horse-power, are used in the smaller building 

 alone. The engines, compressors and all parts of the 

 machinery are in duplicate, so that if one set is disabled 

 the other set of machinery may be started and the requisite 

 temperature throughout the building steadily maintained. 

 Whatever the method used, the effect aimed at is the re- 

 verse of steam-heating, that is, to grasp and carry heat 

 out of the rooms which it is desired to refrigerate. The 

 brine which is produced by the ammoniacal-gas process 

 and conveyed throughout the buildings in main pipes and 

 smaller coils, leaves the manufacturing room in the base- 

 ment at zero and returns from the circuit only five degrees 

 higher. All this apparatus in specially constructed build- 

 ings costs money, and at the present time more than 

 f 4,000,000 are invested in cold storage in this city alone. 



The first floor of these great buildings is usually occupied 

 by offices and open space necessary for receiving and dis- 

 charging goods, and the storage floors above are reached 

 by heavy freight elevators. Passing through a small ante- 



room on leaving the elevator, the " bulkhead," or thick 

 wall, which is air-spaced and padded so as to be as nearly 

 as possible a non-conductor of heat, is reached. The heavy 

 door swings open, and a change of fifty to seventy degrees 

 is realized in a second of time. The purity of the atmos- 

 phere and the uniform temperature of each room or " box " 

 are evident. Tiers of goods extend to the ceiling, closely 

 packed along immense floor spaces, or in smaller lots 

 in separated rooms. To the visitor, who, as well as the 

 guide, is protected with heavy wraps, the long stretches of 

 pipes and rafters covered with frost crystals glittering in the 

 electric light present a strange and beautiful spectacle. Poul- 

 try, meats, fish, butter and eggs are stored in largest quantity, 

 and actual experiments show that these usually perishable 

 goods can be held in cold storage almost indefinitely, and 

 meat and fish frozen and kept for five years have come out 

 in good marketable condition. 



By this preservative process a glut is prevented in 

 periods of too plentiful supply, the season for perishable 

 goods is lengthened to extend the year through, and prices 

 are equalized to the profit of both producer and consumer. 

 For example, yearling turkeys, which last February were 

 stored and frozen, and since kept in a dry air at ten to fif- 

 teen degrees, are now the choice delicacy offered in the 

 best hotels, and bring in the markets three cents a pound 

 more than the best spring turkeys. But even in this favor- 

 ing market there is not much profit to the merchant, since 

 a third of a cent per pound is charged for the cold storage 

 of poultry a month, and the higher rate of half a cent a pound 

 each month for freezing. The prices charged for storage 

 are, however, nearly fifty per cent, lower than they were 

 ten, or even five, years ago. 



The vegetable and fruit supply of this district has been 

 strikingly influenced by cold storage. Peas, lima beans, 

 lettuce, okra, celery and other seasonable vegetables are 

 at this time stored by wholesale merchants for a few days 

 or a week to hold steady a variable supply. Large quan- 

 tities of domestic pears are also being carried on short- 

 term storage. Considering the oversupply of California 

 fruit now reaching this city, it is at first a surprise that 

 none of it is being held for higher prices, but this is because 

 the summer varieties, which alone are now coming, cannot 

 be safely held even in the cold dry air of these warehouses. 

 Tokay and other grapes of vinifera blood later in the season 

 are successfully held for three weeks, and Cornichons have 

 been kept for six weeks and even two months. The more 

 delicate varieties of grapes from this state and Ohio remain 

 in good condition for several months, until the supply is 

 exhausted by Thanksgiving season. The tough-skinned 

 Catawbas, however, are brought out of an atmosphere of 

 about thirty-five degrees as late as April, when even the 

 Almeria season is past. Domestic pears come from the 

 refrigerating houses until midwinter, and some California 

 pears, notably P. Barry, are kept successfully and profitably 

 as late as June. Instances of large profit in carrying these 

 pears are often cited. For example, lots stored in Septem- 

 ber, when they sold for $1.98 a box, commanded $8.00 a 

 box nine months later. 



Late spring varieties of Florida oranges often yield the 

 largest profits of this crop, and are known to have quadru- 

 pled in value by July. In fact, oranges can be kept almost 

 indefinitely, although they are rarely held more than sixty 

 days without deteriorating somewhat in quality. 



Horse-radish, stored last spring when it cost three to four 

 cents a pound, is now selling as high as ten cents, and 

 buckwheat-flour, after having been carefully cooled and 

 kept against all objectionable intruders during the summer 

 months, will soon be selling to eager buyers as the first 

 new buckwheat of this year. Dried fruits and nuts are 

 similarly protected during the warm weather, and seed 

 corn and peas are kept in a freezing temperature to prevent 

 sprouting and to destroy weevils. Owing to an abundance 

 of cabbage last year, quantities of sauerkraut were stored, 

 and this has proved a lucky venture on account of the 

 failure of this season's cabbage crop. 



