Edible Products. 



150 



cloth tube with one of the long pruning instruments that are on the market, that 

 the fruit may be cut and not pulled from the trees. Fruit pickers so constructed 

 as to pick the fruit by cutting the stem are on the market, but these for the most 

 part catch the fruit in a little basket or bag at the end of the pole and necessitate 

 the lowering of the picker from the tree after two or three fruits are picked, 

 whereas the arrangement first described need not be lowered. C. Riviere calls 

 attention to the fact that the avocados common on the south side of the Mediter- 

 ranean and in Madeira and the Canary Islands are very short stemmed or sessile 

 whereas the American forms, so far as known, all have comparatively long stems 

 though varying greatly in this regard. The writer also calls attention to the fact 

 that the long-stemmed forms are more desirable, it being difficult to pick those 

 that are near ly sessile without pulling the fruit from the stem and thus injuring 

 the keeping qualities of the fruit. 



PACKING AND SHIPPING. 



The lack of good shipping qualities in the avocado is probably the most 

 serious obstacle to the rapid development of the industry in the West Indies, and 

 is certainly the chief reason why Porto Rico does not participate in the small 

 shipments that are now made to New York. That it is possible without cold storage 

 to ship avocados from Cuba, while all experiments with the Porto Rican fruit have 

 proved failures, makes it evident that a study of the causes of this difference is of 

 prime importance. It is believed that the better keeping and shipping qualities of 

 the Cuban avocados are due to characteristics of the fruit rather than to differences 

 in gathering or packing. Indeed, this might be inferred from the appearance of 

 the fruit, that of Cuba having a thicker and harder skin than the Porto Rican 

 forms. The introduction of the thick-skinned varieties from Guatemala should 

 give Porto Rico a decided advantage, for it is believed that the Guatemalan forms 

 will prove even better shippers than those of Cuba. Though avocados are success- 

 fully shipped from Cuba, Florida, Mexico, and other places to northern cities, and 

 many different styles of packing are employed, little can be learned from these 

 experiments as to the best method, since no account is taken of the variety of the 

 fruit, which is undoubtedly a more important factor than the method of packing. 

 The avocados from Cuba, wrapped in newspaper and packed in large crates, have 

 come through in better shape than those from Porto Rico, wrapped in tissvie paper 

 and packed in crates only one layer deep, does not necessarily indicate that the 

 former method of packing was superior, but it may mean that the Cuban fruit 

 was such a good shipper that it kept in spite of the inferior method of packing. 



From a comparison of the different 'methods of packing that are practised, 

 taking into consideration as far as possible the nature of the fruit, it seems 

 however, that the avocado, like most tropical fruits, keeps best when packed 

 in such a manner as to be protected from jars or any undue pressure, and in 

 such a way that the fruit is well ventilated. Another important consideration 

 with the thin-skinned forms is that they be packed so that the individual fruits 

 do not come in contact with each other, for, even with the greatest care, bruised 

 fruits will frequently be included. These will rapidly decay, and if not isolated 

 Avill induce decay in those with which they come in contact. This danger is 

 much less with the thick-skinned forms. These conditions are very satisfactorily 

 met by packing the fruits in fine excelsior or some similar substance in rather 

 open cases that are not so large as to prevent those on the inside from being 

 ventilated. If the fruits be wrapped, it should be with some porous paper, but 

 where they are separated from each other this precaution would seem unnecessary or 

 even detrimental. The amount of ventilation the fruit should receive undoubtedly 

 depends on the variety, and still more directly on the temperature, fruit in cold 



