STORAGE OF APPLES IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. 19 
of a cold-storage room. The rapidity of ripening is therefore much 
greater, and the end of its life, even if it is subsequently placed in cold 
storage, comes just so much sooner than it otherwise would. It may 
be expected then that fruit treated in this way will show a much 
higher percentage of physiological and fungous decay in storage 
than that stored immediately after picking and that it will be more 
seriously affected by skin blemishes. 
In all the experiments of this nature, the delayed lots were held 
two weeks in growers’ or shippers’ warehouses at a temperature only 
slightly lower than that of the outside air. In every other respect 
each delayed lot was comparable with the corresponding “ immedi- 
ate.” The data given do not fully represent the differences between 
the lots. The immediately stored fruit was always brighter, less 
yellow, and usually firmer than the delayed. Plates VI and VII 
illustrate the differences in ripeness upon withdrawal of Jonathans 
stored immediately and those delayed two weeks. The immediately 
stored lots, from which the apples in the illustrations were taken, held 
in storage in good condition one month longer than the comparable 
delayed apples. Toward the end of the storage period the delayed 
fruit frequently showed considerable shriveling, while the shriveling 
in the same fruit stored immediately was slight or entirely absent. 
Table III shows that there was consistently more bad scald and 
decay in the fruit delayed for two weeks than in that stored imme- 
diately. Data for the most important varieties represented in these 
experiments are given in the table. This fruit usually was picked 
at the height of the commercial season for the variety. Definite 
dates would only be misleading, because, as has been said, these vary 
greatly with conditions. 
The effect of delayed storage on the keeping quality of the fruit 
varies greatly with different varieties and with climatic and seasonal 
conditions. If warm weather and high humidity are experienced 
during the delay period, the ripening of the fruit goes on very rap- 
idly, and, in addition, conditions are then most favorable for the 
growth and development of fungi causing decay and skin blemishes. 
On the contrary, if the weather is cool and dry, ripening is compara- 
tively slow and the development of fungous troubles is retarded. 
Under these conditions, the delay may be only slightly injurious. 
The table given shows the results with fruit held under varying con- 
ditions of temperature and humidity, and the data are the averages 
of the differences that may be expected to develop between immedi- 
ately stored and delayed fruit. They do not show the maximum 
amount of storage troubles that will result from delay during warm 
and humid weather. 3 
