The Florida agriculturist., 1907-10-09

of groves in bearing from trees that
he has himself budded
John B. Beach,
West Palm Beach, Fla.
Preventing the Rapid Decay of Ripe
Fruit.
The decay of fruit, enroute to mar
ket, has always been a source Of great
loss to fruit growers. The discovery
of any practicable method by which
it could be prevented, without too
great expense, would be a boon to
all shippers of fruit. We find in the
California Fruit Grower an article,
credited to a foreign paper, which
claims that such a method has been
discovered. We copy the article and
hope that the plan may be tested in
Florida this season. We shall be
very glad to publish any reports of
results which we may receive.
lombo, Ceylon, quoting from the
Journal Of the Board of Agriculture,
gives an account Of certain expert
ments conducted in the Jodrell Lab
oratory, Kew, with the object of ascer-
tanning the relative values of various
substances for preventing the rapid
decay Of ripe fruit The method of
treatment agreed upon, as the result
OF these experiments, is as follows:
''In the case Of fruits where every
part is eaten, as strawberries, etc.,
the fruit should be immersed for ten
minutes in cold water containing 3
per cent. of commercial formalin. On
removal immerse the fruit for five
minutes in cold water, and afterwards
place it on wire netting Or some
similarly open material to drain and
dry When the fruit has a rind or
Skin that is not eaten the immersion
in water after the treatment in forma-
lin solution can be omitted with ad-
vantage"
A series of experiments were con-
Quoted at Kew to check the results
previously obtained, and experiments
were also made with other kinds of
ripe fruit The fruit was purchased
in the open market, no attempt at
selection being made.
In each case a portion only of the
fruit was treated with forma1in this
was placed alongside an untreated
portion on a plate Of glass. The two
were covered with bell jar, and ex-
posed to the ordinary temperature Of
the laboratory. The p1ums that we're
thus treated remained perfectly sound
and free from mildew from five to
nine days after the untreated fruit had
become unfit for use; bananas five
days, and currants from four to five
days. Further tests were made with
cherries, grapes, pears, ETC., with
equally favorable results. The fact
is impressed on the reader that all
the fruit experimental on were quite
ripe and had been exposed for sale
and were consequently exposed to in
lection, and in some instances were
more or less bruised The conclusion
is drawn that with fruit carefully gath
suits could be obtained.
''In the case Of apples that are just
Ditted with disease. treatment with
formalin proves of service. Apple
rot caused by the fungus called
G1oeosporium fructigenium, Berk, is
very destructive to ripe fruit on
which it first appears as minute scat
tered spots on the skin; these spots
rapidly extend and form large brown
sunken patches Within very short
time this fungus reduces the fruit to
brown, rotten mass. A dozen ap-
D1es showino the first stage Of this
disease were immersed for a quarter
Of an hour in a solution of formalin
Of the strength given above, and .af-
forwards dried This was done dur
ing the last week in August; the