16 MISC. PUBLICATION 16 8, U.S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



PACKING BRUISES 



When apples are handled roughly during the picldng and pack- 

 ing process, bruises are produced that are easily recognized after- 

 ward as having been produced by such handling. These bruises 

 are usually not large, and the skin covering them is only slightly 

 discolored, if at all. The bruised flesh becomes brownish in color 

 and in most instances shows lines of fracture that are roughly paral- 

 lel to or curved slightly away from the surface of the fruit (pi. 11, 

 C, &, c). Except for a few days after the time when the bruising 

 takes place, the injured flesh is dry and corky. 



The bruises produced when the cover of the container is forced 

 into place over a full, tight pack may be decidedly flattened and an 

 inch or more in diameter, especially in apples next to the lid of a 

 basket or box or at the tail end of barrels. Farther down in the 

 barrel, or away from the sides of a basket or box, the bruises are likely 

 to be concave, particularly if the fruit is ripe and soft, because of 

 the forcing of one apple against and into another. The flesh around 

 the outer edge of the bruised region in ripe apples when observed 

 in cross section may also show a water-soaked, glassy condition be- 

 yond which is a zone of unfractured brown flesh in which delicate 

 brown lines (small vascular bundles) can be seen. 



In apples next to the lid, especially at the tail end of barrels, 

 the bruised area seen in cross section is often conical in shape and 

 extends deep into the flesh, sometimes clear to the core. At such 

 places the flesh inward from the skin about a quarter of an inch is 

 brown and that nearer the core has the water-soaked appearance 

 mentioned above. 



TRANSIT BRUISES 



There is also another kind of bruising that occurs in boxed apples 

 in transit. The injury is usually found only in the apples that are 

 at the lower side of the bottom layer of boxes in the car and for 

 this reason is frequently thought to have been caused by freezing. 

 It is more common during the winter months than during the fall 

 and spring, but nevertheless has been found in boxed apples shipped 

 in the fall before freezing weather has occurred either in the pro- 

 ducing regions or anywhere along the routes taken by the ship- 

 ments. The injury has also been found so late in the spring that 

 there was no possibility of the fruit having been exposed to freezing 

 weather in transit. 



The following are the characteristics of this transit bruising: 

 There are flat, bruised areas on the sides of the apples that were in 

 contact with the lower side of the box as the latter lay in the car. 

 The bruised spots have a water-soaked, darkened appearance, are 

 generally quite firm, and may be an inch or more in diameter (pi. 

 11, A). Occasionally the skin covering them is discolored in spots 

 or streaks. In cross section there is usually a water-soaked, glassy, 

 wedge-shaped area extending from the skin toward the center of 

 the apple (pi. 11, B, C, a, D). It may be shallow or it may extend 

 quite to the core. In some instances the inner edge of this area ap- 

 pears as a fairly smooth curve, convex toward the core ; in others it 

 is broken by strands or rays having the water-soaked appearance 

 just mentioned and extending radially for as much as three fourths 



