208 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
to 28.5 per cent, in the regular commer¬ 
cial cut. In the carefully cut precooled 
lots the rotting was so slight as to be of 
almost no comlmercial importance, while 
in the commercially cut non-precooled lots 
considerably over half of the heads 
showed some rotting, and in nearly one- 
fourth of them the rotting was suffici¬ 
ently advanced to seriously impair the 
market value of the lettuce or even make 
it entirely worthless. 
At the first inspection of the experi¬ 
mental lots held in Palmetto, the heads 
from one-half of each basket were re¬ 
moved and inspected, the lower half be¬ 
ing left undisturbed. The half which was 
inspected at first was afterward repacked 
and the whole basket held until three 
days later, when the two halves were in¬ 
spected and recorded separately. This 
was done in order to learn the effect on 
the heads of removal from the basket and 
handling while on the market. As shown 
by the tables, the two methods show very 
little difference in effect, the difference 
that there is between them being chiefly 
in favor of the heads which were removed 
and repacked. Apparently handling has 
little or no harmful effect on lettuce, and 
the exclusion of air from the center of the 
package may result in a more rapid de¬ 
terioration than is the case when the 
heads are removed from the basket and 
have access to air. 
It was apparent to all who saw the 
different baskets from any experiment 
opened up for inspection that a mere re¬ 
cord of the percentage of the different 
troubles present, as described above, did 
not fully express the difference in their 
commercial value. In almost every case 
the carefully cut lots were distinctly 
more attractive in appearance, not only 
in being less decayed, but also because the 
removal of the dirty lower leaves resulted 
in much cleaner and more attractive look¬ 
ing heads. Likewise, the general con¬ 
dition of the precooled lots was decidedly 
better than that of the non-precooled; the 
precooled baskets could usually be dis¬ 
tinguished without difficulty by the 
crisper condition and brighter appearance 
of the outer leaves, aside from any dif¬ 
ference in the percentage of decay. 
Shipping Lots .—The results of inspec¬ 
tions of experimental lots shipped to 
northern markets are given in the follow¬ 
ing tables: 
TABLE III. 
MARKET CONDITION. NINE EXPERIMENTS 
SHIPPED TO NORTHERN MARKETS. 
At withdrawal 3 days after with¬ 
drawal 
Careful Commercial Careful Commercial 
Regular Iced: 
% Prime 
_ 59.6 
25.7 
46.4 
17.3 
Total % 
ketable . 
mar- 
.100.0 
96,5 
99.2 
91.8 
Precooled: 
% Prime 
. 71.5 
33.7 
58.0 
22.8 
Total % 
ketable . 
mar- 
.100.0 
99.6 
100.0 
98.4 
TABLE IV. 
PER CENT DECAY. NINE EXPERIMENTS 
SHIPPED TO NORTHERN MARKETS. 
At withdrawal 3 days after with¬ 
drawal 
Careful Commercial Careful Commercial 
Regular Iced: 
Slight Decay . . 
7.9 
24.2 
11.7 
30.3 
Medium Decay . 
0.9 
16.9 
3.3 
19.6 
Complete Decay 
0.0 
3.4 
0.3 
5.9 
Total Decay . . 
Precooled: 
8.8 
44.5 
15.3 
55.8 
Slight Decay . . 
4.7 
20.6 
8.5 
26.8 
Medium Decay. 
0.4 
6.3 
1.4 
8.3 
Complete Decay 
0.0 
0.3 
0.0 
1.6 
Total Decay 
5.1 
27.2 
9.9 
36.7 
The experimental 
shipments 
included 
in these tables 
were 
made 
to New York 
