Imperial Valley press., 1914-02-17
Using Sawdust
to Pack Grapes

packed in ground cork can be sent
from Spain and sold in the United
States as late as January, why not
from California The department of
agriculture has been studying this
question for eight years and its an
swer is given in Bulletin 35, "Fac-
tors Governing the Successful Stor-
age of California Table Grapes" Red
wood sawdust, produced on the Pa
cifc coast, is found to be the best
packing material, even better than
ground cork. California grapes packed
in small drums or barrels, with saw
dust as a filler, can be shipped as
far as New York, kept in cold storage
for thirty or sixty days, until Christ
mas, or later, and then sold at profit
BILE prices. This has been demonstrat
ed by the department in extensive
packing and shipping tests extending
over two years, in which number of
grape growers co-operated by furnish
ing the consignments.
In 1911 there were two shipments
from Fresno The first was one car
load, marketed in Chicago. The 81 &C.
ond was Approximately carload, sold
III new i OEk Ill tllliC lOI Tile Vii lSI-
mas trade. The grapes were packed
in drums" each containing about
tWenty-seven pounds of grapes. The
shippers netted about $1.50 a drum
f. O. b. California, which amounts to
something like $40 a ton for the
grapes in the vineyard.
In 1912 more than thirty carloads of
grapes, mostly Emperors packed in
redwood sawdust, were shipped in re-
frigerator cars from the Fresno and
Visalia districts, San Joaquin valley.
Most of them went to New York and
Chicago, where they were held in cold
storage for about two months, and
then sold at auction. This placed
them on the market during the latter
part of December, some as late as
January II. Much of the fruit was
reshipped, so that consipnments ulti-
mately reached such widely separated
places as Boston, Jacksonville, Ha
vana and Liverpool. When we'll filled,
the drums used in 1912 contained
about thirty-five pounds of grapes.
The prices realized proved that the
experiment had been successful, the
average for 1896 drums of grapes
sold in New York being $3.50 a drum
The departments Investigators fig
ure that the cost of the drum, saw
dust, packing, etc., is 76 cents drum;
freight to New York, 81 cents; refrig-
Grafton in transit,,15 cents; total laid
down at New York, $1.48 for each
drum of grapes. Add 20 cents for cold
storage for two months and the cost
of bringing each drum to the auction
in December is $1.68. Selling COM
mission is per cent of the selling
price. If the drum contains 35 pounds
of grapes, an auction price of SD
yields a net price of 3.17 cents a
pound or $63.40 a ton of grapes.
The market returns from these
shipments, after allowing for the diff
ference in the cost of handling the
fruit by the new method. gave a
profit to the shippers considerably in
excess Of that received from the or
dinary crate shipments. A distinct ad
vantage was gained by providing q
new outlet for part of tile grape
crop at time when the eastern mar
kets are frequently overstocked with
California grapes.
The Investigators consider the out
come very satisfactory. The bulletin
sets forth several precautions to be
observed, however. AS this method
of packing is expensive, only the best
fruit, which will bring fairly high
prices, should be marketed in this
way. Varieties of grapes with open
punches are most suitable, because
the redwood sawdust can be most
easily shaken off them. The redwood
sawdust should be pure, not mixed
with that from any other wood, and
it should not be too fine.
Each package should contain a
single grade of fruit, free from blem-
ishes, and if possible of uniform
color, and the net weight of fruit in
each package should be indicated by
a mark. Before packing the fruit
should be cooled over night in the
vineyard, or else it should be pre-
cooled before loading into the refrig-
orator cars. As soon as it reaches
it's destination it should be placed in
cold storage at temperature of 80
degrees. If these precautions are OBJ
served, Emperor grapes may be kept
in cold storage until about January
10, Malagas until December Is. and
Muscats until November Is. When
the Almeria variety can be grown
successfully for commercial purposes
it may be held in cold storage until
about April l.