STORAGE 



STORAGE 



1729 



means or by ice, cold storuiTf can only 

 be lu'ooniplisheil by maiiitainiiii; a de- 

 sired temperature over a loni; period, 

 lu order to secure this, the compart- 

 ments in ^\■hicb tlie products fur sturaije 

 are to be held must be as perfectly in- 

 sulated from outside licat as possible. 



Successful experimental refri,i,^eration 

 by mechanical means "was accomplished 

 as early as the middle of the eiiiiiteenth 

 century, but no successful commercial 

 application of cold storai^e way made un- 

 til after the invention of Lowe's "car- 

 Ix.uiic acid" machine in 18l>7. although 

 the present growth of the industry is 

 due to the invention of the ammonia 

 compression uuichine b\' Pri:'fessor Carl 

 Linde iu ISTo. 



The process was first extensively ap- 

 plied to the preservation of meats, fish, 

 etc., but as early as 1881 the Mechanical 

 Refrigeratini; Company of Boston opened 

 a colli storage warehouse, which marks 

 the beginning of mechanical refrigera- 

 tion as applied to horticultural prodiicts. 

 Other companies were then organized, 

 until now there are about l.'JOO refriger- 

 ating plants in the United States, of 

 which about GOO are used mostly for 

 horticultural products. Foreign coun- 

 tries are now following the example of tin- United 

 States, and London, Liverpool, Glasgow, Paris and 

 other European cities offer facilities for storing such 

 products. In the United States, Chicago is the great 

 center for fruit storage, single firms holding as many as 

 100,000 barrels a year. Apples are the principal storage 

 fruit, good winter sorts holding their form, color and 

 tiavor better thau any other commercial fruit when held 

 for long periods in cold storage. Another reason why 

 the apple is a favorite in cold storage is that peopile use 

 it continuously over a long period. A good apple is 

 always a relish. The apple, too, is the fruit which best 

 pays the producer to hold in cold storage. 



From the nature of the case, mechanical refrigeration 

 will usually be confined tp transoceanic trade, and to 

 cities and towns where the principal business of the 



-'^^ 



Structural details o: 



the building- shown in Fiff. 2406 



iW«fi 



2406. Apple storehouse in Vermont. 



refrigerating machinery will be the ijroiluction -d ice 

 for commercial and domestic use, the cold storage 

 warehouse being a side issue to ice-making. The 

 fruit-grower who wishes to avail himself of tin- ad- 

 vantages of cold storage must either ship his product 

 to the city or depend upon natural i<-e to reduce the 

 temperature of his warehouse. If he is in a climate 

 where a supply of natural ice is available, his most 

 economical plan is to make provision to use it. If iu 

 the far South he must own an ice plant or purchase 

 artificial ice. 



To successfully handle peaches and plums iu car- 

 hits, one nuist nowadays have a supply of ice in order 

 to avail oneself of the best service of the Fruit-Growers' 

 Express or other lines The cars come iced, it is true, 

 but before starting them on their journey it is safest for 

 the grower to have a sufticient supply of ice to fill the 

 pockets of the car 



To hold apples from harvest time until the over- 

 supply of the season shall have been removed, requires 

 storage rooms artificially cooled to a temperature sufii- 

 ciently low to check the process of ripening, which is 

 in reality the conversion of the starch of the imma- 

 ture fruit into sugar. As long as the starch remains 

 as such, fermentation and decay cannot 

 act, but as soon as sufficient water and 

 heat are added to convert the starch 

 into sugar, ripiening proceeds until fer- 

 mentation and decay complete the work. 

 The oltject of cold storage, then, is to 

 clieck the ripening process, or, if the 

 fruit is ripe, to maintain a temperature 

 sufticicutly low to check fermentation. 

 Theoretically, then, green or immature 

 fruits will keep better than ripe ones, 

 'freen fruits sh<"mld keeji as well at Hi\^ 

 as a ripe fruit at 32^. and this is in ac- 

 cord with experience. 



To successfully hold fruit iu c-ild stor- 

 age, three conditions are essential: (1) 

 a low temperature; (2) an even tempera- 

 ture, and (3) sufticient moisture to pre- 

 vent shrinkage, thus keeping the fruits 

 ]dump and crisp. Even in storagi- 

 rooms in which the humidity of the air 

 remains saturated, as indicated by the 

 ordinary wet- and dry-bulb thermome- 

 ter, consideralile loss of moisture will 

 take place from fruits stored in crates or 

 open bins, while much less is lost by 

 those stored in tight receptacles. Indi- 

 vidual Baldwin apples under observation 

 in a room at 32*^ F.. from JaTuiary 4 to 



