RHIZOPLTS EOT OF STRAWBERRIES IN TRANSIT. 
17 
negative results, indicating that any increase of infection from this 
source is relatively unimportant. 
In investigating the effect of drying the fruit after washing, a 
number of experimental shipments were made, the fruit being han- 
dled in the same manner as in the washing experiment alread}^ de- 
scribed except that part of the berries in each shipment were packed 
wet, while the remainder were partially dried, usually by exposure 
to direct sunlight for a few minutes. The results were conclusively 
in favor of packing the fruit wet. Taking the average of all these 
experiments, it was found that drying berries washed in clean water 
had reduced the proportion of sound fruit 36 per cent. Among those 
washed in dirty water the reduction caused by drying was even 
greater — 43 per cent. 1 Table III summarizes the results of all ex- 
periments on drying the berries after washing. 
Table III.— Effect of drying straivberries after ivashing. 
Packed without 
drying. 
Packed after drying. 
Treatment of fruit, if any. 
Number 
of berries. 
Sound 
after 
arrival. 
Number 
of berries. 
Sound 
after 
arrival. 
1,939 
• 2, 886 
650 
Per cent. 
50 
48 
33 
Per cent. 
2,881 
1,144 
30 
19 
In no case were these results reversed, though they differed in degree 
in the various shipments. These variations were correlated with 
differences in temperature when the berries were packed, the com- 
parative benefit of wet packing being greater in those shipments pre- 
pared on very warm days than in those packed during cool, cloudy - 
weather. Drying the fruit, even in the shade, proved injurious, 
though less so than exposure to direct sunlight. 
The laboratory experiments already cited indicate that the rate of 
growth of Rhizopus nigricans increases very rapidly with the rise of 
temperature above 10° C. (50° F.). When infected berries are held 
for a few hours at a relatively high temperature, for instance, 30° C. 
1 Smith and Goodman, of the Department of Agriculture of British Columbia, have 
conducted experiments upon the fanning of strawberries before shipment. They report 
(Winslow, R. M. Report of horticultural branch, 1914. In 8th/9th Rpts. Dept. Agr. 
[Brit. Col.], 1913/14, p. 84. 1915.) that berries dried for an hour in a strong cur- 
rent of air from an electric fan carry to market in better condition than those shipped 
even slightly wet. Though not so mentioned in their report, this operation would have 
the effect of lowering the temperature of the berries quickly and considerably by increas- 
ing the rate of evaporation of the water from their surfaces. It would thus be, in effect, 
a precooling process, allowing the berries to be placed in the car at a relatively low 
temperature if loaded at once ; if, after fanning, however, the fruit were hauled several 
miles to the station during hot weather, much of the benefit of rapid drying would be lost. 
