HANDLING APPLES FROM TREE TO TABLE 11 



cause the air could not circulate as freely as over the top of the stacks. 

 From figure 3 it will be seen that the apples cooled more in the first 12 

 hours than in the next 12 and that the rate of cooling fell off pro- 

 gressively thereafter as the temperature of the fruit approached that 

 of the air in the storage room. The insulating effect of the liners, 

 pads, and the shredded oiled paper ordinarily used is brought out in 

 these results as well as in those in table 1. The effect of air movement 

 in increasing the rate of cooling is also brought out clearly in figure 3. 

 When the rate of air movement was about 200 feet per minute, the 

 apples without packing material cooled to 32° in 36 hours, while in 

 still air they required more than 96 hours to reach this temperature. 

 In the baskets with liners, pads, and shredded oiled paper similarly 

 packed apples required 57 hours in the air moving at 200 feet per 

 minute and more than 156 hours in still air. 



Some people are afraid of possible ill effects of cooling fruit too 

 quickly; they fear that it may produce some kind of "shock" from 

 the rapid change of temperature. No apprehension of such effects 

 is justified. The more rapidly fruit can be cooled to the proper 

 storage temperature, the more quickly will the deteriorating processes 

 of ripening be arrested, and the longer the fruit can be kept in good 

 condition. 



Gas Storage 



In England, some varieties of apples, particularly the leading culi- 

 nary variety, Bramley's Seedling, will not endure ordinary cold stor- 

 age without developing low-temperature break-down. The same situ- 

 ation exists to a limited extent in certain parts of the United States, 

 particularly with Yellow Newtown apples grown in the Pajaro Valley, 

 Calif., and with Mcintosh grown in New York State, in which brown 

 core may develop excessively during storage at 32° F. The so-called 

 gas-storage method was developed by Kidd and West (7) in England 

 to meet this problem. To utilize this method an airtight storage 

 chamber is required and the carbon dioxide produced in the respira- 

 tion of the apples is allowed to build up to the desired concentration 

 while the oxygen content of the storage air is reduced. The tempera- 

 ture of the storage room is usually held at 40° to 45° ; so ordinarily some 

 refrigeration is required in addition to the gas treatment. Since 

 different varieties respond best to different ratios of carbon dioxide to 

 oxygen, different chambers may be required for different varieties. The 

 desired ratio is obtained either by pumping the storage air through 

 a lye solution to absorb the excess carbon dioxide or by ventilating 

 the chamber periodically to admit fresh air and build up the oxygen. 

 Since the vast bulk of the American apple crop can be held satis- 

 factorily in cold storage and most varieties are not benefited by the 

 gas treatment, it is not likely that this method of storage will have 

 wide application in this country because of the added cost and extra 

 work that it entails. However, for special situations it may be utilized 

 profitably despite the extra cost. Several gas storage rooms have 

 been put into operation in New York for the storage of Mcintosh 

 apples in accordance with the recommendations of Smock and Van 

 Doren (16). 



