200 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
pineapple and vegetable industries of the 
state also made urgent requests for both 
handling and precooling investigations 
with a view to reducing loss and deter¬ 
ioration of these products in transit to a 
minimum. In response to these requests 
and in view of the importance of the 
handling and shipping problems as relates 
to the marketing of the fruit and vege¬ 
table products of this state, the Bureau 
handling and shipping investigations 
were extended to include precooling of 
oranges; handling and refrigeration of 
pineapples; and vegetables, particularly 
lettuce. The orange precooling and the 
lettuce handling and precooling investi¬ 
gations have been in progress for but one 
season. Preliminary investigations with 
pineapples were commenced last summer 
and will be continued on a commercial 
scale this season providing crop condi¬ 
tions permit. We feel that the results 
here reported are only more or less in¬ 
dicative and should not therefore be ac¬ 
cepted as conclusive. The data and results, 
however, obtained in these preliminary in¬ 
vestigations are in a measure so striking 
and consistent with results of similar lines 
of work with other fruits and vegetables 
that it is deemed desirable to give them 
to the industry at this time. 
Before taking up a discussion of the 
results of these various lines of work, I 
think it would be well to discuss in a 
general way the subject of precooling. 
There seemis to be a misapprehension as 
to what precooling'means or involves. 
The same is true to some extent as re¬ 
gards ordinary refrigeration. Precooling 
is a term used to designate the prompt 
and quick cooling of fruit, vegetables or 
perishable food products before shipment. 
It involves the cooling of the fruit and 
vegetables themselves, and not only the 
empty refrigerator car or the air only in 
a fully loaded one. The precooling may 
have several objects in view, the two* prin¬ 
cipal ones being the delivering of the 
produce on the market in sounder and 
fresher condition and the cheapening of 
the cost of transportation. 
The physiological and chemical 
changes that constitute ripening of fruits 
and vegetables go on with considerable 
more rapidity after the fruit is removed 
from the tree, especially if held in a high 
temperature. One of the objects of pre- 
cooling, therefore, is to retard the ripen¬ 
ing processes by retarding the tempera¬ 
ture down to a point where the ripening 
processes will be checked or very materi¬ 
ally retarded. This is not as important 
with citrus fruits as with quick ripening 
fruit like peaches and most other decidu¬ 
ous fruits. The rapid ripening of fruits in 
transit under ventilation or under ordi¬ 
nary refrigeration is oftentimes one of 
the causes of quick deterioration on the 
market. In addition to this, there are 
various fungi which cause decay both in 
transit and on the market. The blue 
mold decay, as above mentioned, can be 
pretty well eliminated, through careful 
methods of handling. Stem-end decay, 
however, cannot be controlled in this way. 
When the blue mold or other fungi have 
commenced to grow, further growth is 
not absolutely stopped even at a tempera¬ 
ture of 32 degrees. The spores of these 
fungi, being analogous to the seeds in 
