COLORING CITRUS FRUIT IN FLORIDA 11 
With insulated coloring rooms and pipes, these methods of cooling 
the gas and thereby the atmosphere in the coloring room are un- 
doubtedly effective. There is, of course, the question of cost, which 
must be considered in this connection, as the maintenance of a 
mechanically operated refrigerating plant considerably increases 
the overhead, while a constant supply of ice may not be conveniently 
available. On the other hand, burying the pipe and adding water 
are inexpensive; convenient, and give good atmospherical conditions 
in the coloring room. 
TABLE 2.—LHffect of ice on the relative humidity of a coloring room 16 by 16 
by 7 feet in size 
[Two 300-pound blocks of ice were placed in the room at the start, and 300 pounds were added each day 
thereafter 
Relative humidity 
(per cent) 
Items of comparison 
8to9 |10to12} 38to5 
a.m. | a.m. | p. m. 
TR eyes SO at he CN ly NR ARNO ENE RNS CEs aA 84.5 | 83.0 76.0 
EGPCS Teh SRL Ta eR) BNE WT OSD a By rs Cb) HNC UT A VOSA Ree 67.0 50.5 43,5 
Tests made of the temperature obtained by the use of ice in the 
coloring room or by blowing the gas over ice on its way to the 
coloring room are shown in Tables 2 and 3. These tables also show 
that the relative humidity of the gas is raised considerably over that 
of the outside air by the evaporation of the water from the melting 
ice. 
TABLE 3.—JLHffect of ice in reducing temperature and keeping high humidity in 
a coloring room 16 by 16 by 7 feet in size 
[Two 300-pound blocks of ice were placed in the Poon abthe start, and 300 pounds were added each day 
thereafter 
Items of comparison 
Humidity in room, 
perncenta= see ees 88 92 94 94 93 90 91 93 90 90 90 94 93 
Temperature (° F.): 
in room eases 85 82 80 77 77 Ue 76 76 76 Ue 77 75 77 
Just outsideroom} 90 89 85 72 80 82 82 74 78 85 82 74 82 
EFFECT OF COLORING ON THE FRUIT 
SHRINKAGE OF THE FRUIT DURING COLORING 
When the fruit is received from the tree and held two or three 
days in a warm room, there is naturally some loss of weight due 
mainly to the evaporation of water from the fruit. If the humidity 
of the room is low there is liable to be considerable shrinkage, which 
may be sufficient to cause it to shrivel or the skin to dry, thus injur- 
ing the appearance of the fruit. If the humidity is between 80 and 
90 per cent, however, there is very little shrinkage, as shown in 
Figures 5 and 6. The data from which these curves were plotted 
were obtained from fruit colored under commercial conditions in a 
