16 BULLETIN 331, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 
spections on withdrawal and 6 days after withdrawal being shown. 
After 10 days in the iced car the carefully handled . fruit had devel- 
oped only 0.7 per cent of decay, as against 3.5 per cent for that com- 
mercially handled. Six days after withdrawal, the carefully handled 
fruit had developed 2.1 per cent of decay, as against 8.7 per cent for 
that commercially handled. After 15 days in the iced car the care- 
fully handled fruit showed 0.4 per cent of decay and the commercially 
handled fruit 7.1 per cent of decay. Six days after withdrawal, this 
series had developed 3.7 per cent of decay in the carefully handled 
fruit, as against 16.6 per cent in the fruit handled in the ordinary 
commercial manner. 
The commercially handled fruit had developed during a transit 
period of 10 days almost five times as much decay as the fruit handled 
CAREFULLY HANDLED 
COM MERC SALLY 
HANDLED 
f=>E& CEAfT DECAY 
20 IS 10 5 O 
DAYS IN ICED 
PER CENT DECAY 
•O S 10 IB 20 25 
30 
1 ' 1 ' ITEN 
CARI ' 1 ' » 1 ' 
' 1 ' 
|<X7 
ON WITHDRAWAL 
3.5 §gS 
■ 2-1 
SIX DAYS LATER 
a? miiiiiiiiwn 
FIFTEEN DAYS IN ICED CAR 
| 0.4 
ON' WITHDRAWAL 
71 IKKHIM 
EH 3.7 
SIX DAYS LATER 
'wiijiiiiiiiiiiiiiii'iii mini 
TWENTY DAYS IN ICED CAR 
BBS 2.7 
llllllllllllllllllllll 6.9 
ON WITHDRAWAL ' 
SIX DAYS LATER 
6.8 I39BS 
^ 3 3fi!lii!llill!IPiil!i!!|!||llll!lll|l]|llllllliiMifflili 
Fig. 4. — Diagram illustrating the percentages of decay in carefully and commercially 
handled prunes, Salem, Oreg., 1911. 
carefully, and after holding for 6 days on the market the com- 
mercially handled fruit still showed four times as much decay as 
that carefully handled. The same relative differences hold true for 
the 15 and 20 day periods. 
These figures illustrate strikingly the important relation of 
handling to the decay of prunes in transit and clearly bring out the 
need of great improvement in handling methods before prunes can 
be successfully and profitably shipped from this section in a green or 
fresh condition. While the decay developed in the commercially 
handled fruit on arrival is not proportionately large, it is sufficient 
to affect seriously the market value of the fruit, especially in view 
of the rather rapid development of decay under market holding 
conditions. It must also be borne in mind that all of these lots were 
held in an iced refrigerator car under very favorable conditions, the 
fruit cooling very much faster than it would in a full carload and 
generally being held under more favorable temperatures and con- 
ditions than would be the case under ordinary transit conditions. 
