Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1914-12-03

word..o q wisdom I..u.d By d. U. s.
Departments Of AsrieuItbrs-Propsr
Cultivation Necessary.

Cultivation Necessary.
Washington, d. c., Noy. 27.-The
U. S. Department Of Agriculture has
issued some interesting information Of
value to apple growers and handlers.
1t says as follows:
The proper function Of cold storage
is to retard the ripening Processes Of
the fruit and the development Of decay
organisms and skin blemishes. The first
responsibility for the keeping quality
Of this fruit rests with the grower,
since it is his growing and handling
methods that largely determine its vi
tally, freedom from disease and gem
eral condition when stored. Cold stor-
age is not a remedy or a restorative
for poorly developed, weak, imperfect
fruit, but is the most effective method
of preserving the quality. favor and
appearance possessed by the fruit at
time of picking.
The first step in successful cold stor-
age of apples has been found to lie in
the practice of such cultural, spraying
and pruning methods as insure produc-
ton Of the sound, healthy, well-colored
fruit, free from disease. Assuming this
as the first requisite, the following fac
tors have been found to most influence
the keeping quality of the fruit and fur
nish best conditions for long storage:
~ Proper maturity at time of picking;
~ care in all handling operations: (3)
prompt storage after picking; az a
proper storage temperature.
Careful and extensive Investigations
have demonstrated that fruit picked at
full maturity can be held for long er
period Of storage and is less affected by
scald and decay than that picked when
somewhat Immature. Two important
commercialvarieties, Rome Beauty and
Winesaps, have been found to be espec-
tally susceptible to scald during stor-
age. if picked prematurely. There
is no doubt that several thousand dol.
lars are lost to the industry each year
through the improper picking of these
two varieties alone. The results EN-
phasize STRONGLY that more care and at
tention should be paid to this detail of
the harvesting operations than is usual
ly the case. BY full maturity. however,
is not meant over maturity, which NAV
cause fully as heavy losses as immatur-
ity. Each grower should study his own
fruit and his own conditions in order to
determine the proper picking stage
Probably the most reliable single indi.
cation of maturity is the whitening or
slight following of the ground color"
of the fruit. This is the color under
living the blush or red color aid should
not be confused with The latter.
Care in all handling operations is the
secondimportant requ site Of sue ,essful
storage. A class of fungus. of which
the common blue mold is an example.
are known to be unable TO attack and
cause decay of healthy, uninjured fruit.
In spite of this fact, very serious rots,
both in storage and in transit to- mar
ket, are the work of fungi of this t, pc
and the largest contrlbutory cause in
all cases is bruising or skin break ing
suffered by the frnitin the picking and
packing operations, Microscopic bruises
and breaks in the skin are large enough
to afford entrance to the pores of ,hese
fungi and the necessity for the utmost
care in all operations connected with
the handling If the fruitto avoid bruis-
ing and mechanical injuries is more ur-
gent than most growers realize.
- There is marked difference in con
dition between fruit stored as soon as
possible after picking, usually not more
than two days later, and otherwise com
parable lots of which the storage was
delayed 10 days or two weeks. Such
delay is especially injurious during a
period of warm humid weather. The
delayed fruit at withdrawal from stor-
age IS ripper, yellower and duller than
the corresponding immediate" stored
fruit and in addition develops more ST.
rious scald and decay. The important
ance of eliminating all avoidable delay
cannot be too strongly emphasized.
The standard storage temperature
for apples is 81 to 80 degrees Fahren-
heit. and this has been found to be the
best for long keeping of the fruit
Higher temperatures permit the ripen.
ing of the fruit to advance more rapid
" than to 81 to 80 degrees, with the
result that the fruit at the higher tenn
peratures reached the end Of its stor-
age life much sooner. In addition, the
lower temperature retards most etfec-
lively the developments of fungus de-
Gays and skin blemishes.