FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
37 
At the end of the first month of sto¬ 
rage there was very little difference in 
condition between the wrapped and un¬ 
wrapped fruit held in the storage room. 
At the end of two months, however, the 
difference was marked, and at the end of 
five months the percentage of wrapped 
fruit in good commercial condition was 
over three and one-half times as great as 
the percentage of unwrapped fruit. The 
difference in favor of wrapping is even 
greater in the fruit stored in the tent. 
However, the impracticability of holding 
grapefruit, either wrapped or unwrapped, 
for any length of time under tent con¬ 
ditions is shown by the table clearly 
enough to require no further comment. 
TABLE IV. 
WASHED VS. NOT WASHED GRAPEFRUIT. 
HELD IN STORAGE ROOM, PER CENT. 
IN ‘‘GOOD COMMERCIAL CONDITION” 
AFTER ONE TO FIVE MONTHS' 
t ‘ . 
STORAGE. 
r —W rapped — v /—Unwrapped—\ 
Length of 
Time in Not Not 
Storage Washed Washed Washed Washed 
1 month_99.8 100.0 98.1 99.8 
2 months_98.3 100.0 91.8 98.9 
3 months_‘87.8 98.5 50.3 78.1 
4 months_79.2 96.6 28.0 68.1 
5 months_66.4 81.0 18.3 
Grapefruit stored wrapped and not 
washed has kept in the best condition in 
all the experiments. 
The difference between washed and not 
washed fruit in storage was surprising. 
Although handling experiments have 
•demonstrated that fruit not washed is 
less subject to decay than that washed, 
it was not thought that washing would 
have any effect on the firmness of the 
fruit after a period in storage. The dif¬ 
ference, however, was almost as striking 
as that between the wrapped and un¬ 
wrapped fruit. Table IV. shows that 
after three months and longer in storage, 
from 11 to 40 per cent, more of the not 
washed fruit than of the washed, was in 
good commercial condition. The results 
shown in both of these tables are an av¬ 
erage of the results of all the experiments 
carried on at Cocoanut Grove this sea¬ 
son. 
The quality of grapefruit is undoubt¬ 
edly improved by storage. Analyses of 
specimens from the different lots, made 
by the Department of Chemistry of tne 
Florida Experiment Station, show that 
the citric acid remained practically con¬ 
stant, but that there was a fairly consis¬ 
tent increase in total sugar content. This 
increase in sugar is 1 1-2 per cent, in the 
fruit picked in November, after four 
months in storage, and 1 per cent, in 
the January fruit after two months in 
storage. However, the superior quality 
of the stored fruit can hardly be expressed 
chemically. Its chief attraction is a mel¬ 
lowness of flavor which makes it even 
more desirable than the fresh fruit. 
• Although it has been found possible to 
hold grapefruit for four months in com¬ 
mon storage with over 96 per cent, of it 
in good commercial condition, there are 
two factors that must be overcome be¬ 
fore it will be advisable to attempt com¬ 
mercial storage. These are high shrink¬ 
age and decay. Shrinkage, that is, loss 
in weight aside from decay, has averaged 
