4 CIRCULAR 773, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



rot, rhizopus rot, and blue mold rot — the decay is allocated as 3 

 percent of gray mold rot and 2 percent of each of the others. 



If a certificate read "less than 1 percent decay", the carlot was 

 listed on the summary sheets under "trace of decay"; later, in sum- 

 marizing the data, an arbitrary value of 0.25 percent of decay was 

 assigned to each so listed. No attempt was made during the course 

 of the abstracting to separate decays in early and advanced stages. 

 However, the entire question of extent of commercial loss resulting 

 from the decays summarized herein is discussed on pages 59 to 61. 



Presentation of Data 



The writers were faced with the problem of presenting an enormous 

 amount of factual information in enough detail to bring out the more 

 important relations, but sufficiently condensed so that the reader 

 would not be lost in a welter of detail. The method adopted was that 

 of presenting a single table for each commodity and accompanying it 

 with a formalized text description in which the order and manner of 

 factual presentation were essentially the same for each commodity. 

 Thus, with minor exceptions the discussions are arranged in the same 

 order. 



The importance of the commodity on the New York City market 

 and the proportions of the total unloads that were rail, boat, and 

 truck shipments are first pointed out. For many commodities some 

 information is given also on the State of origin or on the country of 

 origin if they were imported. States are listed in the order of their 

 importance based on average annual unloads for the 7-year period. 

 Next, information is given on the carlo ts inspected and the amount 

 of decay found in them. Then, information is presented on the 

 percentages of decay in carlo ts showing decay, and the types of decay 

 in these carlo ts and the averages per carlot are tabulated. 9 The tabu- 

 lation shows also whether a large percentage of one kind of decay 

 occurred in a few carlots or a small percentage in many. Finally, 

 salient points in the table are discussed. When a commodity was 

 inspected only a few times the table was omitted. 



The decay values presented in the tables represent the average 

 percentage per carlot inspected. This is expressed first as a total of 

 all kinds of decay and then separately for each type of decay noted on 

 the certificate. Scientific names of pathogens were supplied by the 

 writers. Under the heading "Other decay" is included all decay of 

 which the kind was not specified on the certificate; occasionally it also 

 included minor decays that were occasion ally reported in small amounts 

 affecting a few carlots. Usually decay is given in the tables to the 

 nearest 0.1 percent. Percentages less than 0.05 percent are listed in 

 the tables as "Trace." For a number of commodities certain bacterial 



9 For each commodity the several known types of decay are listed in the order 

 of their importance; then "other decay" (decay not designated by type on the 

 certificates) is listed. Importance is based on total of spoilage caused by a 

 given type of decay; although such total spoilage is not shown, it can readily be 

 determined on inspection of data by multiplying number of carlots affected by 

 average percent of decay per carlot. In many instances the sum of carlots 

 affected with each type of decay may be greater than the number of carlots of the 

 commodity actually inspected. The extent to which this occurs indicates the 

 extent to which more than one type of decay was found in the same carlot. 



