18 CIRCULAR 2 7 8, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



PLUMS (INCLUDING PRUNES) 

 (Temperature, 31° to 32° F. ; relative humidity, 80 to 85 percent) 



Plums and prunes (fresh) are not stored extensively and are not 

 adapted to long cold storage. Such varieties as Abundance, Wild 

 Goose, and those of the damson type store better than the softer- 

 fleshed plums such as Santa Rosa, Beauty, Wickson, and Duarte; 

 none of them can be expected to remain in good condition even at 

 32° F. for more than about 2 weeks. After that time they become 

 too soft for commercial handling and lose somewhat in flavor. 



The most important commercial shipping and storage variety is 

 the Italian prune. At a temperature of 32° F., 15 days is about 

 the maximum cold-storage period for this fruit if a shipping period 

 is necessary before the fruit goes on the market. After arrival at 

 market prunes cannot safely be held in cold storage for more than 

 about 3 weeks. If held longer there is danger that internal brown- 

 ing will develop, as well as abnormal odor and flavor. 



QUINCES 

 (Temperature, 31° to 32° F. ; relative humidity, 80 to 85 percent) 



The behavior of quinces in storage is about the same as that of 

 early winter varieties of apples such as Jonathan and Grimes 

 Golden. 



RASPBERRIES 

 (Temperature, 31° to 32° F. ; relative humidity, 80 to 85 percent) 



Fresh raspberries, blackberries, Logan blackberries, and dewber- 

 ries are not adapted to storage and are usually not stored commer- 

 cially. For short periods, 10 days to 2 weeks, they can be kept in 

 fair condition by storage at 31° to 32° F. in a humidity of about 80 

 to 85 percent. 



STRAWBERRIES 

 (Temperature, 31 e to 32° F. ; relative humidity, 80 to 85 percent) 



Fresh strawberries are not stored commercially except for very 

 short periods ; 10 days is probably the maximum. Even for so short 

 a time as this the temperature must be kept below 40° F. to prevent 

 loss from decay caused by certain low-temperature fungi such as 

 gray mold and' ' Phytophthora, the fungus which causes leather rot; 

 31° to 32° is still better. After about 10 days, sometimes sooner, the 

 fruit loses its fresh bright color, shrivels more or less, and deterio- 

 rates in flavor. 



DRIED FRUITS 

 (Temperature, 32° to 50° F. ; relative humidity, 70 to 75 percent) 



Dried fruits, including prunes, raisins, apricots, peaches, and figs, 

 are held both in cold storage and in ordinary warehouse storage, at 

 temperatures ranging from 32° to 50° F. A relative humidity of 

 60 to 65 percent has been found most satisfactory for the storage of 

 these commodities and is in fact about the degree of humidity which 

 large operators often find has become established automatically in 

 large rooms given over wholly to dried fruits. If stored in a ware- 



