HANDLING LETTUCE AND CELERY. 
27 
cooled car as well as the nonprecooled, as the figures in Table XII 
prove, but it is much more marked in the nonprecooled car. In the 
precooled car, three times as much decay developed by the end of two 
weeks in the celery from the top tier as had developed in that from 
the bottom tier. In the nonprecooled car there was five times as 
much decay in the celery from the top tier as in that shipped on the 
floor. The decay in the celery shipped on the floor of the nonpre- 
cooled car was less than the average for the precooled car. This fact 
PRECOOLED 
PER CENT DECAY 
COfc 50 40 30 20 
NON PRECOOLED 
PER CENT DECAY 
20 30 40 SO 
TOTAL DECAY 
STORED TWO WEEKS 
16.1 From TOP TIER of CAR 40.1 
5.6 FromBOTTOMTIERofCAR 7.8 
TOTAL DECAY 
STORED FOUR WEEKS 
32.3 From TOP TIER of CAR 
13.1 FromBOTTOMTIERofCAR 
2o.7rrrrnTnrfrmTTnTm 
Fig. 19.— Diagram illustrating the percentages of decay at the end of two weeks and at the end of four 
weeks in storage at 32° F. in crates of celery from the top and from the bottom tiers in cars of both pre- 
cooled and nonprecooled celery shipped from Manatee, Fla., to New York, season of 1915. 
indicates that celery from the lower part of a nonprecooled car could 
be stored for this period with small loss. However, the upper tiers 
should be placed on the market as promptly as possible, to avoid 
excessive losses from decay. 
Table XII. — Percentages of decay in celery shipped in the top tier and the bottom tier in 
precooled and nonprecooled cars. 
Treatment. 
Stored two weeks. 
Stored four weeks. 
Top tier. 
Bottom 
tier. 
Top tier. 
Bottom 
tier. 
Precooled 
Nonprecooled — 
percent.. 
do.... 
16.1 
40.1 
5.6 
7.8 
32.3 
66.7 
13.1 
20.7 
SUMMARY. 
During the seasons of 1913-14 and 1914-15 investigations were 
conducted by the Bureau of Plant Industry for the purpose of ascer- 
taining the causes of losses by decay in lettuce and celery shipped from 
Florida and to determine practicable means of reducing the same. 
Decay in lettuce in transit was found to be due largely to 
lettuce drop, a disease which appears to enter the head mainly 
through the lower leaves. 
