COLORING SATSUMA ORANGES IN ALABAMA. 11 
TaBLE 12.—Change in the solids-acid ratio in a carload of oranges during 
coloring. 
: ¢ Date : Soluble | Solids- 
Time of observation. 1920. Acid. solids: acid chee: 
- / Per cent. | Per cent. 
Pereireraplonint@agees 1220 62. aes Saab a sia so sie ae Bea NOV ted, 1.23 10. 00 8.1 
0) BP GO UES Sa ae es See ae = Oe a mee Se Set eee ee Nov. 10 1. 20 10. 35 8.6 
There was an increase in the solids-acid ratio due to increase in 
the soluble solids. Practically no decrease took place in the acid 
content, possibly because of the uniformly low temperature of the 
coloring room throughout the period. 
Two lots of fruit were colored in the season of 1920 after No- 
vember 10. Most of the oranges by this time had colored on the 
trees, though a few groves here and there showed little or no yellow 
color. There was danger, of course, that such fruit would be dam- 
aged by early frost, and so the crop of one grove that showed practi- 
_eally no color was treated in two successive lots of slightly more 
than a carload each. Probably because this fruit was rather rough, 
thick skinned, and of poor texture as compared with the average, it 
took seven days to color each lot. The engine was kept running 10 
hours each day. With both lots the temperature and humidity 
averaged practically the same as in the experiments just described. 
No solids-acid tests were made. It seemed probable at the time that 
these two lots of fruit would be damaged by frost if they were al- 
lowed to remain on the trees until they attained a full yellow color, 
as they would not have colored until well along in December. 
EXPERIMENTS IN 1921. 
Encouraged by the results in 1920, the Gulf Coast Citrus Ex- 
change in 1921 took up the coloring of Satsuma oranges on a com- 
mercial scale. Coloring houses with capacities of from one to three 
cars were constructed in conjunction with each of thei packing 
houses. Although oranges from a number of groves passed the 
solids-acid ratio of 8 to 1 as early as October 3, coloring was not 
started until October 15. After this date, as fast as the coloring 
houses were completed and equipped they were filled and started. 
These houses were all operated continuously throughout the season. 
Coloring was accomplished in each case by utilizing the exhaust 
from the gasoline engine used to operate the sizing machinery. By 
means of appropriate fittings this exhaust was controlled in such a 
way that it could be dischar ged into any one or all of the rooms 
as desired. When the inlet valves were once set each day to admit 
the required quantity of gas for each room, usually no further care 
was needed, as an exact quantity of gas is not important. The usual 
tendency was rather toward using too much gas than too little. As 
the packing houses were oper ated only during the day, the coloring 
rooms received no gas at night. When proper care was exercised 
against allowing too much exhaust to be discharged into the rooms, 
the stems on the fruit remained perfectly tight. In one or two 
instances, however, where the exhaust did become too st rong the 
stems were loosened. In two instances temporary trouble was caused 
Be Ren ih > 
