RIPENING, STORAGE, AND HANDLING OF APPLES 55 



to or slightly below the mean of those prevailing outdoors, affords 

 an excellent means of testing the performance of common-storage 

 houses. The operator of a common-storage house should provide 

 himself with two maximum-minimum thermometers. One of these 

 should be placed outside the storage house at a point where the sun- 

 shine never strikes and where it is not influenced by heated build- 

 ings, etc. The other should be placed in the storage room, prefer- 

 ably about the height of the top of the fruit. The maximum and 

 minimum temperatures both inside and outside the storage house 

 should be recorded daily. If at the end of a 10-day period the aver- 

 age of the maximum-minimum temperatures inside the house is 

 above that prevailing outside, the storage is not performing in a 

 satisfactory manner, in which case the trouble is due either to in- 

 adequate or poorly arranged ventilation openings or lack of care 

 in opening and closing the ventilators to take advantage of the cool 

 outdoor conditions. Inadequate insulation in aboveground storages 

 may also be a factor. If temperatures equal to the mean of those 

 prevailing outdoors are obtained, it may be considered that the stor- 

 age is giving satisfactory service in view of the climatic conditions 

 under which it is being operated. Such a test of the operation of 

 the house should be made during the fall months, when the tem- 

 peratures both inside and outside are gradually falling. 



VARIETIES OF APPLES FOR COMMON-STORAGE HOLDING 



The varieties of apples which may be held successfully in common 

 storage will vary widely in different sections of the United States. 

 As was pointed out in Part I, the same varieties ripened relatively 

 much earlier in the growing districts having a long season, such as 

 the Pacific Northwest, Virginia, or southern Ohio, than in the 

 shorter growing-season sections, such as Michigan, New York, or 

 New England. Baldwin apples, for example, which normally reach 

 picking condition from the middle to the end of October in New 

 York State, will reach that condition from the middle to the 20th 

 of September in Virginia. Holding this variety in common storage 

 in Virginia, therefore, would be impracticable, since the fruit would 

 have to be in storage through late September and October with 

 temperatures in Virginia ranging from 55° to 60° F. In New York, 

 however, by picking and storing around the last of October, this 

 variety during a normal season can be handled in common storage 

 at temperatures averaging for the month of November somewhat 

 under 40°. A similar condition exists with other varieties. Jon- 

 athan, for example, which ripens early in the Pacific Northwest and 

 in Missouri and Virginia, becomes a late-ripening variety in Michi- 

 gan or New England. Picking in the latter sections can be delayed 

 until cool weather, and the variety can be handled very satisfac- 

 torily in common storage while entirely unsuited for common- 

 storage holding in the Southern and Pacific Northwest States. 



In general, it may be said that only varieties which mature late 

 in the section in which they are grown will give satisfactory results 

 if handled for a relatively long period in common storage. In the 

 Michigan, New York, and New England districts such varieties would 

 include Baldwin, Stark, Ben Davis, Northern Spy, etc. In most 

 seasons Jonathan will also give fairly satisfactory results. In the 



