12 BULLETIN 645, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
In the spring ot 1917 another series of experiments was conducted 
to determine the relative merits of bright and russet fruit with refer- 
ence to their carrying qualities. Twelve lots of oranges, each con- 
taining an equal number of brights and russets, were picked and 
carefully selected so as to avoid any mechanical injuries. So far as 
possible, the brights and russets from each lot were taken from the 
same tree. Examinations were usually made every seven days. Table 
5 gives the percentage of decay for each period of all the lots. 
TABLE 5.—Perceniage of decay of “ brights” and “ russets.” 
| “Brights.” | “* Russets.”’ 
Number | x + Total 7 - Total 
of «lays. peu Number | number Per pause parses number Per 
sound | decayed # ele sound | decayed 5 cent 
Z = decayed | decay. = decayed | decay. 
fruit fruits Rental fruits fruits pret | 
| | 
| } | 
95 0 0 0.0 95 0 0 0.0 
5 94 A i 1.05 95 0 0 -0 
12 93 1 2 2.10 95 0 0 -0 
19 89 4 6 6.31 87 8 8 8.42 
26 79 10 16 16. 84 78 9 17 17.90 
| 33 71 8 2” | 25.26 56 22 39 | 41.05 
40 60 il 35 36.8 40 16 55 57.90 
47 59 r 36 37.89 31 9 64 67.36 
54 50 9 45 47.36 12 19 83 87.36 
61 34 4 49 51.57 il 1 84 88. 42 
} 
The above experiment was terminated about 24} months after it 
was started. At that time 27 of the bright fruits were sound, 25 
of which were eaten, and only 3 of the russets were sound, none 
of which were edible. The 95 bright fruits had averaged 51 days and 
the 95 russet had averaged 36 days before developing decay. In 11 
of the 12 lots the brights lasted longer than the russets. According 
to weight, the percentage of decay was 45.3 in the brights and 64.5 
in the russets. 
The rate of evaporation of the juices is also much greater in 
russet fruit than in bright. From January 30 to April 7, 1915, 24 
bright grapefruit lost 4.7 per cent and 24 russet lost 13.6 per cent 
from evaporation. During the same time 51 bright grapefruit lost 
5.9 per cent, and the 51 russet lost 9.5 per cent. One box of bright 
oranges lost 10.4 per cent, and another box of russets containing the 
same number of fruits lost 15 per cent. Another box of brights lost 
14.8 per cent by evaporation and the box of russets lost 17.9 per cent. 
In one box of half brights and half russets the brights lost 17.4 per 
cent and the russets 21 per cent. In one box of brights the loss from 
evaporation was the same as that sustained by the russet box. In 8 
of the 12 lots mentioned under “ decay ” (Table 5) the percentage of 
evaporation was greater from russet than from bright fruit and the 
total of the 12 lots showed the russets evaporated 23.12 per cent and 
the bright 22.68 per cent. 
