34 



stored within forty-eiglit hours aftern they were picked 

 in a temperature of forty-eight degrees P, but that if 

 the fruit did not reaoh the storage room until four days 

 after it was picked there was a loss of from twenty to 

 thirty per cent, from softening and decay under exact- 

 ly similar storage conditions. 



The Keiffers stored within forty-eight hours in a 

 temperature of thirty-two degrees P, hare heen kept in 

 perfect condition until late winter, although there is 

 little commercial demand for them after the holidays. 

 The fruit grown 'bj'" one man on young trees in I90I which 

 was still hard and greenish yellow when stored ten days 

 after picking, began to discolor and soften at the core 

 in a few days after entering the storage room. Though 

 the outside of the pears appeared perfectly nonnal. Af- 

 ter forty or fifty days the flesh was nearly all discol- 

 ored and softened and the skin had turned brown. The 

 fruit from older trees on another farm in 1902 which was 

 smaller and finer in texture appeard to ripen as much 

 as the fruit from the younger trees during the ten days 

 delay. This fruit, however, did not discolor at the 

 core and decay from the inside outward, but continued 

 to ripen and soften in the storage room and was injured 

 at least 50/? in its commercial value by the delay. 



