Los Angeles herald., 1910-07-31
TELLS OF WAY TO
SHIP LEMON CROP.
A.. v. Stubenrauch Outlines to the
Citrus Growers Results of
His Experiments
MAY STANDARIZE THE BOXES
Careful Handling Saves the Fruit
from Greater Loss
by Decay
MAY STANDARIzE THE BOXES

A. V. Stubenrauch of the United
States department of agriculture ad-
dressed the Lemon Growers club in
the chamber of commerce building
yesterday morning on the government
approved methods OF handling and
packing oranges and the possibility of
applying the same methods in the
shipment of lemons.
The Unied States government has
just finished an investigation extend
ing over three years of the methods
of handling oranges in order to min
imize the loss by decay, and Stuben-
rauch asserts that the information
CLEANED in this direction can be ap-
piled to the handling and shipment Of
lemons.
The lemon growers at the afternoon
session considered the question of
standardizing the size of the boxes in
which the citrus fruit is shipped and
in the near future will confer with
the railroad companies in an effort to
agree upon a size that will work to
the best interests of the growers and
the transportation companies.
BLUE MOLD
According to Steubenrauch, who
directed the federal fruit inyestiga-
ton in Southern California, the lemon
requires different treatment from the
orange, and the first thing determined
was that If the skin of the fruit is not
bruised, blue mold, which is the prime
factor in producing decay, cannot pen
citrate it.
The speaker employed a series of
charts to illustrate the results OBJ
tanned from siXty-five experiments in
nine different packing houses in South
ern California. The experiments were
made on both washed and unwashed
fruit handled with care as compared
with the manner in which fruit is said
to be handled by the average grower.
PERCENTAGE OF LOSS
It was proved by the speaker that
carefully handled fruit, not washed,
showed Z per cent decay at the end
of a month and IA per cent at the end
of two months, whereas commercially
handled fruit, unwashed showed 1.9
per cent decay in one month and 3.3
per cent in two months.
1t was found by federal investigators
that the washing of fruit tended to
produce decay but the speaker assert
ed that he would not advise the elm
ination of the washing process in the
handling of citrus fruits He coun-
seled that the same care be exercised
in washing the fruit as is exercised in
the balance of the handling in order
to eliminate the danger of bruising
the product
Green fruit, as opposed to that
picked silver green or fully ripened,
showed comparatively little decay. In
the latter grade, when washed and
handled commercially the percentage
of decay was 80, as compared with
percentage Of decay of 2.6 in green
fruit under the same conditions. Stu
benrauch pointed out that whenever
possible the fruit should be picked and
packed in an almost green condition.
PACK LOOSELY
The government experiments also
showed that fruit packed loosely was
less liable to decay than that which
was forced into the boxes during the
work of packing. 1t was found that
fruit handled on trays during the pc
riod in the packing house was less LA
BIZ to decay than when the commodity
was allowed to remain in bins.
The club seemed deeply interested in
the advice given by the government
expert and there is a hint that the
facts presented to the fruit men may
mean that the methods employed in
the packing of citrus fruit may be
revolutionized in Southern California.
The club extended a vote of thanks
to Stubenrauch for his presentation
of the governments Investigations and
adopted a resolution of appreciation
of the efforts of the department of ag-
riculture in finding the best methods
of packing fruit. 1t was suggested that
tho department look into other prob
of Southern California.