The Globe-republican. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1889-1910, 1897-10-14

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Science Of Keeping Fruit
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A. C. Bennett, president of the Wis
eansin Cranberry Growers assccia-
.x1on. writes in American Fruit Crow
eEI Union Magazine as follows:
An growers Of fruit should, first OF
III, study carefully to grow only such
fFuit - can be put on the market and
sold with satisfaction to the consumer.
for II they do not reach the consumer
in proper shape some one must certain
" suffer loss. 1t seems to me that such
tender fruit should be put up only
when dry, be put in wire boxes instead
OF wood, so as to give the greatest pos
stble circulation of air, or at least II IN
wood, the boxes should be ventilated
from the bottom up and shipped In
cars with free ventilation. Stagnant
water exposed to air, heat and light
soon becomes corrupt and so does stag
nant air exposed to moisture, heat and
light Be the cause and remedy what
they may, the grower of each kind OF
fruit should study the best possible
conditions for their preservation, and
label each package with Caution" and
conditions for keeping the fruit. this
would very often save him from heavy
loss, and the wholesaler and retailer
from much vexation.
have been a grower Of cranberries
for over twenty years. have seen our
cranberries in good condition after be-
ing kept a whole year. I have seen
cranberries from the same lot ruined
In thirty days. The principle of pres
ervation OF fruit is this: The pulp that
surrounds the inner seeds and circula-
ton OF the juices continue under fav
orable circumstances to circulate until
the seeds are fully matured. We may.
gather tomatoes, apples and other
fruits SO green that if the seeds were
at once removed, they would never
grow. yet by placing them under fav-
orable circumstances, the juices in the
pulp continue to circulate and the seeds
become fully matured; then having no
further use for this pulp to feed the
seed, 1t decays and becomes food to the
plant. A certain amount of heat is
necessary to continue this circulation,
some requiring more and others less.
We may retard this circulation by re-
ducing temperature and thus prolong
the time in which the seed becomes
fully matured, and in this way keep the
fruit alive and retain its flavor, but If
We reduce the temperature sufficient to
stop the circulation, the fruit dies and
becomes like human body in which
life has become extinct; by exposure
for too long time though not frozen,
life Is gone and the flesh soon goes to
decay. Cold storage is death to most
kinds of fruit. When l was at the
Worlds Fair observed that the lem
ons shipped there from California did
not rot even when kept a very long
time. I asked the man in charge of
their exhibit. for the reason. He said
We used to ship our lemons to Chicago
In refrigerator cars; then they had to
be sold right of and We often suffered
heavy losses. Now such of us as un-
derstand our business, before shipping
them. expose them to the air, and
slightly dry them: then they keep all
right, and dry up instead of rot, and
We can ship them in other cars. Why
should this knowledge be confined to
the few who know their business?
There are many kinds of fruit that
have a tough skin, IL such fruit were
subject to a drying process, just
enough to close up the stem end, where
they are separated from the tree. or
bush, they would then be sealed up in
their own skin, and would finally dry
up instead of rot. This is the case
with the cranberry.
In the second story of our store
house. you will see by the photo send
you, in the open windows shallow
boxes made of lath, which we use for
this purpose. The room above is used
to shut of the heat Of the roof, and
the windows give ventilation from
every side. The lower story is all
above ground, and should be FROST
proof and dark, yet ventilated enough
to keep it dry for winter storage. In
shipping cranberries, if they get cold
or near the freezing point, and the 70
ceiving merchant puts them into a
warm room or damp cellar, every berry
will become wet, by condensing the
moisture from the air. as a pitcher Of
ice water sweats when brought into a
warm room. The result is, they soon
reopen the stem end again. and as they
are packed SO close in the barrel, they
never dry out and continue to steam
and sweat and soon rot. They should
be either kept moderately warm. dur
Ing their shipmeAt, or else the change
from the sold to the warmer room must
- % gradual as to avoid getting them
into this sweating process, or decay ia