18 
BULLETIN 714, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
October 26 and examined in Chicago on November 15, 1917. The 
results are given in Table XL 
Table XI. — Comparative results of shipping cranberries before and after clean- 
ing, as shown by tests made in 1911. 
Condition when shipped. 
Shrinkage noted (per cent). 
Variety. 
In first 
cleaning. 
In sepa- 
rating at 
Chicago. 
Total. 
McFarlin l 
In chaff 
28.7 
10.2 
27.0 
15.5 
28.7 
Do 
Separated and sorted 
20 
30.2 
In chaff 
27.0 
Do 
Separated and sorted 
20 
35.5 
i Contained more than 10 per cent of frozen berries. 
It will be noted that with both varieties the total loss of berries 
was greater with those cleaned before than with those cleaned after 
shipment. This is particularly marked in the case of the Middleboro 
variety, which contained no frosted berries and therefore gave a 
more accurate test. 
Shipping in the chaff naturally involves the extra expense of 
freight charges and containers for the chaff and decayed berries 
which would be taken out in cleaning. On the other hand, if fruit 
is shipped in the chaff it may be held in storage and run through a 
separator as sold. Under these conditions hand sorting will not 
be necessary and the cost of preparing for sale is materially reduced. 
In deciding whether to attempt shipping in the chaff each grower 
will have to take into consideration his own expense of separating 
and sorting, the probable keeping quality of his berries, and whether 
the consignee has adequate facilities for separating the fruit. Ship- 
ping in the chaff will then be confined to consignments to large 
dealers and will be most profitable in the case of fancy fruit of rela- 
tively poor keeping quality. 
SUMMARY. 
Recent observations and investigations have shown that about 15 
per cent of the cranberry crop is lost between the field and the con- 
sumer. The losses are due in part to fungous rots and in part to 
smothering. 
Bruising of the fruit occurs in the operations of picking, separat- 
ing, sorting, and packing. Such injury is not only a direct cause of 
spoilage, but renders the fruit much more liable to decay. Much 
more rot has been found in roughly handled or bruised fruit than 
in carefully handled fruit. 
No direct relation has been found between the humidity of the air 
in which the fruit is kept and the amount of rot which develops. 
Death and spoilage of cranberries will finally result from natural 
ripening of the fruit. This process is hastened by high temperatures 
and reduced by low temperatures. 
