Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-12-02
EXPERIMENTAL STOR-
AGE FRUIT PLANT
Establishment of This Kind
Needed at Highmoor Farm to
Assist Maine Orchardists in
Solving Certain Important
Problems.

OTOnO, Me-, Dec, l.-NSpeCidll.--
The recent apple show held in Ban
gor by the Maine State Pathological
! Society was a striking demonstration
of the revolution that has taken place
in the orchard industry of the state
| in recent years and revelation to
those who had not followed the trend
Of events. AS one speaker aptly put
it, time was when you dug out the
worm-hole and ate what was left but
now you are perfectly safe In eating
an apple in the dark. The quality OF
Maine apples has improved equally in
all other respects and a visitor at the
show mentioned, on looking over the
scores of fine boxes and barrels of
fruit. could not fail to go away con-
| WINGED that no better apples are grown
| anywhere than are being produced In
the State of Maine today.
Maine orchardists have learned how
to produce good fruit and the number
who are doing so by dropping the old
methods and adopting the new is in
creasing rapidly yearly. However this
does not mean that they do not still
have important and extremely urgent
problems to solve which require ex
pert, scientific assistance, based upon
farther experimental evidence. BY no
means the least important of these is
the question of apple storage. From
a practical and economic standpoint,
and one which concerns every citizen
/ of the state in some degree, this is
perhaps the most important problem
which Maine orchardists are facing
today.
Every extra dollar brought into the
state through increased prices result
ing from marketing fruit in better
condition or at the most opportune
season or from the sale of fruit which
would otherwise go to waste adds to
the wealth and prosperity of the Com
monwealth.
Many varieties of apples grown in
Maine should not be marketed till
winter or spring to secure the greatest
returns and the placing of any variety,
be it early or late, on the market fas
ter than the natural demand results
in great economic waste and eventu-
ally loss to both producer and con-
sumner. Usually winter apples. if kept
in the best possible condition, will net
dollar or more per barrel extra
| when sold at the proper time instead
How to keep an apple in such
| way that it will be in the best posi-
BILE condition when the out-of-state or
foreign consumer needs it and is will
ing to pay the highest price for it and
how to have it reach said consumer in
the best possible condition is. there
fore, live issue with the Maine or
chardists. This is why the Maine
tot al ic aSki in
| that the Maine Agricultural Expert
ment Station make a study of the
question of apple storage and that the
| state appropriate a sufficient sum OF
money to erect an experimental stor-
age plant at Highmoor Farm. There
are some over 1000 apple trees of
bearing age on the farm, composed
practically entirely of varieties which
can be disposed of most probably
from mid-winter on to late spring.
Moreover the farm is located in the
heart of the apple district of the state,
thus admitting Of cooperative storage
experiments with surrounding orchard
lists.
1t is planned, if the appropriation is
made, to erect storage plant equipped
for experimental work containing cell
lar storage, above ground frost proof
storage and cold storage. There are
a number of important practical and
scientific problems which could be
studied in a plant of this kind all of
which have a direct bearing upon the
apple industry. Perhaps the most i'm
portant matter from practical as well
as from a scientific standpoint is the
need of more thorough study Of the
factors involved in the production Of
''scald' of fruit in storage. 1t is
known that some varieties Of apples
scald worse than others and that with
these varieties the trouble is worse
some years than others. 1t is known
that the maturity Of the fruit when
picked and the conditions Of storage
are influencing factors, but the actual
cause is not known. 1t is not known
why some varieties scald and others
do not, and why trouble appears under
some conditions and not under others.
With reference to the different varie-
ties grown under Maine conditions
there is no accurate data as to the
length Of time Of keeping in cold stor-
age as compared with ordinary cellar
storage. Some varieties have been
tested in other states where the fruit
was grown under different climatic
conditions and Maine fruit has been
shipped away to be stored. All of
these data are valuable and suggestive,
but they do not furnish an owner Of
a large orchard or the members Of a
fruit growers association the facts that
will give them accurate information as
to the results which they might expect
If they were to build a cold storage
plant and place their apples in it i'm
mediately after picking. There is rea-
son to believe that Maine fruit placed
in cold storage as soon as picked would
go on the market at the end OF the
storage period in better shape than
that exposed to warm, fall tempera-
lures for some time, especially that
packed away in closed cars for from
a few to several days before being
placed in cold storage
In Maine there are several different
forms of apple decay, each caused by
| specific fungus. There is need for
| mora accurate eynarip,opfaJ xuorIr m