PRE-COOLING OF FRUITS 



1735 



rapidly after arrival that they must be 

 immediately consumed, otherwise a large 

 proportion of the fruit is wasted. The 

 figures also show the percentages of decay 

 obtained from grapes packed in ground 

 cork and redwood sawdust. The use of a 

 filling material in packing California 

 table grapes reduces the decay percentage 

 to a minimum. It has not been thought 

 wise to advise the change from the old 



method of packing in crates to one using 

 a filler because of the difficulty of intro- 

 ducing a new style of package under com- 

 mercial conditions. From the last sea- 

 son's experience, however, there is some 

 indication that at least the best grades of 

 grapes may be packed with this filler, and 

 an attempt will be made to introduce this 

 new system of packing for ordinary com- 

 mercial shipment next season. 



Table H. Average Percentages of Decay in Pre-cooled and Jfon-Pre-cooled 



Commercial Shipments of Tokay Grapes from Lodi, California, to Jfew York City, 

 Seasons of 1909, 1910 and 1911. 



On 2 Days After 4 Days After 



Season of 1809 — Arrival, Arrival. Arrival. 



Pre-cooled 6.6 12.7 16.8 



Non-pre-cooled 7.5 10.9 15.1 



Season of 1910 — 



Pre-cooled 7 4 11.1 15.1 



Non-pre-cooled 8.7 12.2 17.5 



Seasrn of 1911 — 



Pre-cooled 6.5 12.2 16.7 



Non-pre-cooled 8,1 12.8 17.i> 



Table II shows the results from com- 

 parable shipments of pre-cooled and non- 

 pre-cooling table grapes to New York 

 during three consecutive seasons. No at- 

 tempt was made to handle these grapes 

 carefully; the ordinary commercial pack 

 was used. The pre-cooling was accom- 

 plished by means of a cold-air blast cir- 

 culated through the cars until the aver- 

 age temperature of the fruit was reduced 

 to a point near 40 degrees. The figures 

 show that decay was slightly less in the 

 pre-cooled cars, but the differences are 

 not sufficient to warrant any considerable 

 extra expense. A greater reduction in 

 decay was accomplished by careful hand- 

 ling without pre-cooling than by pre-cool- 

 ing alone. 



This is a most important point, and 

 one which cannot be too strongly em- 

 phasized. The tendency to regard pre- 

 cooling as a means to overcome all of the 

 difficulties which are experienced in 

 transporting fruits is widespread, and 

 while we feel that this system of pre- 

 paring fruits for shipment over long dis- 

 tances is a most important one, and one 

 whicB. will have a very great influence on 

 the carrying qualities of fruit after the 

 grower, the packer and the shipper have 



done their share to insure the prepara- 

 tion of the fruit for market in sound 

 condition, pre-cooling must not be de- 

 pended upon to replace all of these spe- 

 cial efforts. 



The fruit-handling investigations of 

 the Bureau of Plant Industry have been 

 in progress about ten years. During that 

 time a very comprehensive study has 

 been made of the relationship of hand- 

 ling various kinds of fruit to their be- 

 havior in transit, in storage and while 

 on the market. This study has been 

 extended to the California orange and 

 lemon, the California table grape, the 

 Georgia peach, the Florida orange and 

 pomelo, and last season investigations 

 were begun with red raspberries in 

 Washington, and cherries and fresh 

 prunes in Oregon, The results of these 

 studies covering a wide range of fruits 

 are consistent throughout, and show a 

 very definite relation between the meth- 

 ods of handling the fruits and their be- 

 havior after packing. I will not attempt 

 to give all of the data which have been 

 accumulated along these various lines. It 

 is, however, important to present some 

 of the results in order to show how con- 

 clusive and how consistent the work has 

 been. 



