FRUIT STORAGE IO9 



temperature can be reduced somewhat sharply, and if 

 the house is well built there is very little loss during 

 the day of the capital gained at night. An entirely 

 satisfactory storage temperature of thirty-six to forty 

 degrees may be secured in this way under favorable 

 circumstances before the first of November, and a lit- 

 tle later this can be reduced to thirty-two to thirty- 

 four degrees. 



III. HANDLING THE.,FRUIT 



The old-fashioned way of handling pears in storage 

 is to place them on shelves. These shelves are usually 

 narrow and shallow. The plan of using shelving in 

 the storage room has been applied to all sorts of fruit, 

 and is still used to some extent, especially where only 

 a small amount is to be handled. This is not practi- 

 cable for large quantities of fruit, however, and prob- 

 ably its advantages under any conditions are largely 

 imaginary. 



A modification of the shelf arrangement is still 

 used by the Colorado apple growers, and in a few 

 other places where fruit is stored in shallow bins. 

 This reduces the labor somewhat. 



Vegetables are often, perhaps usually, placed in 

 bins in the storage room. 



The method now most commonly applied to fruits, 

 however, is to store them in the packages. Apples 

 are nearly always stored in barrels, grapes in baskets, 

 peaches in baskets, and so on. This is, all things con- 

 sidered, the best and most convenient way. 



There is a difference of opinion among apple 

 growers as to whether barrels ought or ought not to 



