Middletown transcript., 1897-12-11
NOTES ON COLD STORAGE.
Very Low Temperature Not Necessary
the Air Is Kept Pure.

Very Low Temperature Not Necessary il
the Air Is Kept Pure.
At the meeting in Detroit of the So
ciety For the Promotion of Agricultural
Science Professor Rane of the New
Hampshire Agricultural college read a
valuable paper on cold storage which
placed the matter on novel basis. The
professor made it appear that very
low temperature is not necessary pro-
vided the air is kept pure. Following
are in brief some Of the remarks made
by Professor Rane:
The first essential to this preservation
is pure air. For orchard fruits the tenn
perature should be as low as possible
and be above freezing, grapes not need
ing SO much cold. In from "a to SO de-
grees, where light could be excluded
and the air kept pure and free from gas
es, the fruit will keep indefinitely.
The assumption that oxygen is the
agent Of decay is erroneous The condi-
tions which favor or avert plant growth
are the same as those which avert or
favor decay.
The presence of moisture favors de-
cay. The first gas generated in house
is carbonic acid gas, and it is the first
impurity found in cold storage house.
If temperature is high, there is shrink
ing, then softening and loss Of flavor.
Fruits in a vault in which candle can
not be kept burning are affected as if by
frost. Remove this gas as soon as found
to be present.
The temperature for preservation,
other things being right, was shown to
be not as low as generally supposed,
from 30 to 45 being given for apples, 45
to 55 for peaches. 46 for pears, 81 for
cabbages and 81 to 80 for fresh beef.
Butter, Professor Rane said, should
have % degrees and be kept in room
by itself.
A description of the station cold
storage house, which is on the north
side of the barn cellar, was given. The
floor is impervious to air. The all i'm
portant part of it is the yentilators which
are run across the cellar. The filing
between the sheathing is of fine shaw
ings, packed as tight as possible. The
cost, including lumber and labor, was
given as $50. The system worked well.
OF 300 barrels put in the loss over win
ter was very light Sold in the spring,
the price was for first quality. The only
expense of the keeping was the labor of
hauling. Potatoes stored in the same
house kept perfectly.
The principle, as explained in the
Philadelphia Ledger, which reported
the meeting, is in keeping rid Of the
carbonic acid gas by changing the air
by ventilation instead of by the exceed
ingly more expensive and troublesome
method of chilling and freezing
Importers or YIndDrcaks.
Windbreaks are placed next in i'm
portance to irrigation by E. P. Powell
of New York. Writing to The New
England Homestead he tells that in
Oneida county, N. Y, there is an or
ehard of Red Astrakhans one half Of
which has a windbreak of arbor Vita
hedge and the other none. The protect
ed part is in perfect condition, the 9TH
er part is nearly dead; not thoroughly
sound tree in it. The crops show the
same difference At another place there
are on one side of the street hedges and
groups of evergreens, ON the north and
west, on the other side is an open
sweep for the wind. The protected land
ripens lima beans and Isabella grapes and
is as good as whole degree of latitude
warmer than the other. Our serious
trouble is not from cold, but from cold,
drying winds and speedy changes Of
temperature.
He recommends evergreen screens
everywhere, not only hedges but screens
Of trees, allowed to grow tall without
clipping The arbor vitae is generally
best, hemlock in some localities. Nor
way spruce wants more room, but is
valuable, The old plan of letting trees
grow up in fence lines was right. Too
much economy in clearing land is mis-
take The proper trees for windbreaks
vary in different parts Of the country,
but this means Of protection is very gem
erai1v usaful