10 
Observations indicate that this same relationship of temperature 
and humidity during the growing season to keeping quality holds in 
regard to many other deciduous fruits, though not necessarily in the 
same degree as with Bartlett pears. Plums, prunes, cherries, apricots, 
and other fruits seem to show a similar tendency toward poor keep- 
ing quality when grown under particularly cool conditions, but they 
have not been studied in sufficient detail to warrant a definite state- 
ment. 
MARKETING BARTLETT PEARS FROM DIFFERENT DISTRICTS. 
The trade, through long experience in handling fruit from different 
sections of the country, has become thoroughly acquainted with the 
characteristics of pears from different regions. Consequently, the 
fruit is now utilized largely in the manner to which it is best adapted. 
Fruit dealers in the districts in which the pears produced are of 
the highest carrying quality usually ship the bulk of their crop to 
eastern markets. In some regions the early-picked fruit is shipped, 
but the later picks, which are of poorer carrying quality, are marketed 
through the canneries. In the coolest regions no attempt is made to 
ship Bartletts any great distance. They are sold to canneries or 
marketed locally. 
PRECOOLING PEARS FOR SHIPMENT. 
The advisability of precooling Bartlett pears before shipping is 
one that varies greatly with the particular district under considera- 
tion and with the facilities that are available for cooling the fruit. 
By precooling is meant placing the fruit in a cold-storage room and 
cooling it thoroughly before loading it into a car or holding a car of 
fruit on a siding adjacent to a plant equipped to circulate cold air 
through the car, thus cooling the fruit more quickly than is pos- 
sible by simply placing ice in the car. 
In those districts in which little difficulty is experienced in getting 
fruit through to market there is no reason for departure from the 
present practice. The fruit should be packed as promptly as possible 
after removal from the tree, loaded into iced refrigerator cars, and 
started to market at once. At the present time the railroad tariffs 
allow the addition of salt to the ice in the cars, which greatly hastens 
cooling. Tests carried on by the Office of Preservation of Fruits 
and Vegetables in Transit and Storage of the Bureau of Markets 
and Crop Estimates, United States Department of Agriculture, have 
shown that 200 pounds of salt added to the ice in each bunker at the 
time of loading is of very great value in quickly cooling the fruit to 
the minimum temperature that it is possible to maintain in the car. 
In shipping fruit from districts in which pears have poor carrying 
qualities, precooling has proved of great value in putting the fruit on 
the market in good condition. The success or failure of precooling 
will depend, however, primarily upon the answer to one question, 
