COLD STORAGE OF FLORIDA GRAPEFRUIT 3 
hence there was much waste. A few fruits held until September 
were in good condition for use immediately after removal from 
storage but would not stand up long at ordinary market tempera- 
tures. The prices received for the fruit were fairly high, being 
about $6.50 per box as compared with $3 to $3.50 when the fruit 
was placed in storage. : 
From this experiment it is evident that grapefruit packed at the 
beginning of April can be held for two months and be in fair con- 
dition when removed from storage, but it is necessary to sort it and 
remove the decayed fruit in order to obtain a good merchantable 
package. he increase in price after two months’ storage in this 
case much more than paid the cost of storage and conditioning. 
Holding the fruit longer than two months, however, was hardly 
practicable, in view of the fact that there was considerable increase 
in decay over the longer period and the fruit broke down quickly 
when placed on the market. Cold storage, of course, only slows 
down the life processes, and fruit which is ripe or overripe on the 
trees can not be maintained indefinitely in good condition in storage. 
SECOND EXPERIMENT 
The second car of grapefruit for these storage experiments was 
packed January 15, 1923, and arrived in Washington January 25. 
This fruit was divided into five lots. Some of it was allowed to cure 
by standing in the packing house, whereas that in other lots was 
exposed to the fumes of the incomplete combustion of kerosene in a 
coloring room. The lots were as follows: 
Lot 1. Picked January 8; treated with kerosene-stove gas 24 hours; then 
cured in packing-house air one week; shrinkage in weight before packing, 1.5 
er cent. 
Lot 2. Picked January 8; cured seven days in packing-house air; shrinkage 
in weight before packing, 1.5 per cent. 
Lot 3. Picked January 10; treated with kerosene-stove gas 63 hours; shrink- 
age in weight before packing, 2.5 per cent. 
Lot 4. Picked January 12; treated with kerosene-stove gas 48 hours; shrink- 
age in weight before packing, 2.5 per cent. 
Lot 5. Control. Picked January 15 and packed the same day without curing. 
The fruit was shipped in a refrigerator car under standard venti- 
lation, arrived in good condition at the Arlington Experiment Farm 
January 23, and was unloaded January 24. No decay was found in 
any of the boxes inspected at the time the fruit was placed in 
storage. The temperature was 32° F., as in the first experiment. 
Five weeks after the fruit was placed in storage, when 200 boxes 
were sold, there was practically no decay in the first-grade fruit, 
0.92 per cent in the second, and 0.47 per cent in the third. The fruit 
cured by treating with kerosene-stove gas showed the least pitting, 
about 4 per cent of which was noticeable from the standpoint of 
marketability; that is, the pits were more than one-eighth of an inch 
in diameter and fairly numerous. There was about 6 per cent pit- 
ting of this type in lot 2, which was cured in the packing house and 
was not treated with gas. On March 14, a little over seven weeks 
after the fruit was placed in storage and about nine weeks after the 
first lots were picked, the remainder was sold. There was less than 
1 per cent decay in any of the lots. There was, however, some 
pitting. 
