The Indianapolis journal., 1903-05-24
COLD STORAGE OF FRUITS
AID GIVEN TO EXPORTERS BY DE-
PARTMENT Of AGRICULTURE.
Great Success I'm Shipments to Eu-
rope-Experiments to Be
Broadened.
Letter in New York Post.

washington Letter in New York Post
"You can never tell till you try is the
motto on which William A. Taylor, the field
agent OF the division investigation in the
Department OF Agriculture. seems to work.
His idea was abundantly made good when
a cargo OF russet apples was sent to Paris a
month or two ago and sold for prices 40 per
cent. above what the same fruit would have
brought in the home market. II is said to
have been the first time that apples were
ever taken out OF cold storage at that season
OF the year and marketed in Europe. Why
russets should have been chosen for the ex-
pertinent has puzzled many observers; but
for reasons best known TO themselves
Partisan apple eaters had taken a great
fancy to russet apples. and wanted nothing
else when they could be got. 1t was at the
suggestion Of the pomological division that
this kind OF fruit was shipped and the Sc
Quel proved the soundness OF the judgment
A large fruit farmer in southern Illinois
complained last fall that he was getting
next TO nothing for his hard red winter ap-
piles. He carried his complaint to Mr.. Tay-
lor, whom he knew, and asked for advice
about sending them abroad. London" said
Mr.. Taylor, '1has a taste for some other
things no more wonderful" Would you be
willing to take a carload Of my apples and
put them down In London under govern
ment auspices, If I'll guarantee the ex-
pense? suggested the orchardist. THAT Is
what we are here for" answered the po-
mologist. So a carload was made up. The
somewhat more than s. a barrel, which.
after all cost Of harvesting, packing with
especial care, railroad transportation to the
seacoast. etc, left a very neat return to the
owner OF the orchard. 1t did not take long
for other Illinois farmers to catch the idea,
and before the winter was over thousands
Of barrels from that part of the country
found their way to the London market.
The pomologists at the department had an
idea that summer apples. too would sell In
London. Experienced shippers shook their
heads and felt sure that IL wouldn't paw TO
try what nobody had tried up TO that time.
But Mr.. Taylor assumed that there must
be a season between seasons" when the
apples from Australasia had given out and
the native apples had not yet matured. We
have so many apples in the United States
which ripen In midsummer and are delicious
to eat. but highly perishable. that 1t seemed
them, and recent experiments of the de-
partment with peach shipments had shown
that 1T was possible to send very tender
fruit long distance without spelling IL.
This time the department had to seek the
orchardist, not the orchardist the depart
ment. Delaware apples were chosen, and
were packed in quart baskets like peaches
and the baskets carefully laid in crates ali
under the eye of the Washington profession
ais. They went safely and brought about
double the price the department people had
dared to estimate for them.
FOR PEAR CULTURISTs.
The next object lesson was arranged for
the benefit OF the pear culturists of Niagara
county. New York. The department under
took to see that it's American clients should
receive not less than the best home market
price for their Bartletts- The experts super
vised the wrapping and packing. personal
ly conducted" the cargo to London. and put
IL up at public auction Once more their ex-
pectations were justified. The experiments
made with Delaware and Georgia peaches
not only have been successful in pecuni-
ary sense, but have taught shippers here a
great deal that they had not guessed be-
fore about the possibilities of storing such
tender fruit in refrigerated warehouses, not
merely for ten days or a fortnight, but for
five or six weeks. and bringing them out
hard and bright and fit for all market con-
ditions. IL was simply a question of knowing
reason
the how.
Congress appreciates what the department
has been doing in these lines. and has of
iate l kept IL supplied with appropriations for
just such work. 1t uses the money to buy
fruit with which to make e1 periments in
fresh and untried fields, unle IS some fruit
inf Iarmer comes along who is wiling to let the
picking OF the tree 10 depositing the pro-
ceeds in the bank. In such cases IL simply
agrees to hold him protected against loss.
"a roI .of
Tor sciences sake so generally turn out
profitable 10 the governments partner in
the enterprise that private cooperation
promises to become the rule, and purchases
the exception, In operations on a large scale.
The fruit shipping demonstrations are to
pe proadened this season so as to include
strawberries, blackberries, raspberries cur
rants. g0oseberries, plums and cherries
Tnere. are also TO be some experiments will
the cold storage of lemons. 1t is a serious
undertaking 10 bridge over the period be-
tween the lemons appearance as a fresh
product In the spring, and the season when
Il Is most scarce. but still most needed-the
not spell or late summer, when the picnic is
In full flower and the circus on the move
Prices go skyward then with a bound. for
the ordinary fruit shipper will assure YOU
tnat the lemon cannot be kept in cold stor-
age, and illustrates his point with accounts
or the thousands upon thousands of dollars
lost on spoiled fruit, when venturesome ner-
sons have tried to circumvent nature. The
government pomologistS are convinced new
ertheiess. that what has succeeded with the
peach Is not necessarily doomed to failure
with the lemon. Hence the department. is
now laying its plans for pretty big at
Tempt In which some lemon growers In Cal
norma, transcontinental railroad with a
Ierminns na5T III I'm IN Chicago and storage com
Pdhy IN tne latter city Will be parties the
government standing whatever loss shall be
involved, but the lemon growers getting anv
pront tnat may be netted in the end
A CAREFUL PROCEEDING.
IL would astonish good many old-fash-
ioned farmers, with their haphazard meth
DDS. TO see how deliberately the government
goes into matter OF this sort. I'm conduct
Ing the whole business from start To finish
For example. records are kept showing rho
ages OF the trees on which the fruit q
grown. the local conditions of irrigation
the amount OF water consumed by the trees
the sort OF cultivation and spraying etc
the dates and other circumstances of tbs
picking or the fruit, the period for which IN
Is held in storage, the temperature To the
traction OF degree. the exact method of
wrapping and packing, the time Consumed
In shipment both before and after stc~are
now long the fruit Is kept after all these
prehminaries but before sale, the amount OF
fruit lost. the condition in which the rem
nant is marketed. and the prices brought
Later, experiments will be made with or
ahgeS, which are supposed to be easier to
Keep than lemons. There Is an addtional
Interest attaching to the stored orange
from the Iact that the court honors in Eu-
rope are already beginning TO be paid TO the
CahIornia orange In competition with the
oranges OF all other parts of the world II
We ever get Panama canal liz Is expected
that We snail practically kill the foreign