SPOILAGE OF CRANBERRIES AFTER HARVEST. 17 
Table X. — Increase in rot due to the sorting of cranberries, as shown by a 
test made at Wareham, Mass., in 1911. 
Condition noted (per cent). 
Treatment. 
Rotten on 
Oct. 3. 
Rotten on 
Nov. 6. 
Total rot. 
Sorted once during storage 
4.3 
15.8 
11.0 
20.1 
11.0 
To avoid such losses as have been cited, all berries, especially those 
of doubtful keeping quality, should be handled as little as possible, 
they should be cleaned as near the time of shipping as possible, and 
in sorting care should be exercised not to touch or bruise the berries 
unnecessarily. It is possible that separating machines may be de- 
vised which will injure the fruit less than those at present in use. 
Improvement can certainly be made in the methods of hand sorting. 
The most thorough sorting is not necessarily the best if it is accom- 
panied by too much handling of the berries. Sorting belts in which 
the berries pass from the separator over a slowly moving belt which 
carries them in front of the sorters and deposits those not removed 
in a box or barrel at the end have the advantage of making it un- 
necessary for sorters to handle the fruit roughly, provided there is 
some device for turning the berries on the belt. An easer 1 of some 
kind should be used to prevent bruising when berries drop into a 
barrel or other container. 
SHIPPING IN THE CHAFF. 
When berries come from the bog they have more or less leaves, 
broken vines, or other foreign matter mixed with them. Fruit in 
this condition is said to be " in the chaff." 
As a result of the knowledge of the fact that the processes of 
cleaning cranberries increase their tendency to decay and that it is 
advantageous to place them before the consumer as soon as possible 
after cleaning, some growers have attempted shipping berries in the 
chaff and having them cleaned at destination. For berries particu- 
larly subject to decay after sorting this plan is apparently to be 
recommended. 
The writers have had the opportunity to test this method in only 
one instance, a shipment of berries from a bog in Wareham, Mass., 
to Chicago, 111. Two varieties were used in the experiment, and 
equal quantities of berries as uniform as could be secured were 
chosen. Half of each lot was carefully separated and sorted before 
shipment and the shrinkage noted; the other half was shipped in 
the chaff. At destination all lots were run through a separator and 
the shrinkage again noted. The berries were packed in Wareham on 
1 Easer is a term the writers apply to any device for breaking the fall to prevent 
bruising. 
