The daily banner., 1917-11-21
STORAGE OF APPLES
Factors Making For More Satisfac-
tory Keeping of Fruit Discussed by
Specialists.

keeping qualities of apples must be
shared practically equally between
growers and handling organizations
on the one hand and coldstorage
warehousemen On the other is the
conclusion reached by specialists of
the United States Department of Ag-
riculture as result of nVestigations
to determine the factors of greatest
Importance in successful storage of
the fruit.
The Investigations disclosed that
if the fruit is to be stored most salts
! factorily, and is to be got into the
hands of the consumer III excellent
condition, the growers part should
be, first, TO produce the best possible
| fruit, sound, we'll colored and tree
! from decay, insect injury, or skin
blemish of any kind; and, second. to
/ have it carefully harvested at Just
the proper degree OF maturity. The
! handlers part should be TO so han
die the fruit in harvesting, hauling,
! grading, and packing that 1t will not
! Ue bruised, scratched. or injured.
Growers, shippers. and warehouse
! men should cooperate to get the
! iruit into cold storage as soon as
! possible after it is harvested. The
/ Tarehousemen should then hold the
! fruit at as low a temperature as pos
sible without oubjecting it to the
| danger of freezing. The fruit should
! be carefully watched, with view to
| disposing of it while in good market
| condition.
: The factors making for successful
storage are discussed in detail in De-
partment Bulletin 5S7, Storage of
Apples in the Pacific Northwest, re-
Gently published by the United States
| department Of Agriculture
Apples from orchards badly infec-
ted with northwestern anthracnose,
and apples, generally, that are borne
on trees lacking in vigor, are likely
20 decay early in their storage life,
and well-colored portions of the SKIN
OF apples seldom, if ever, develop
scald. These facts indicate the de-
STABILITY of proper care of the or
chards, including spraying and prun-
-ng. Keeping tn etrees open by
pruning will admit the sunlight more
freely and so facilitate coloring. The
Iact that scald develops generally On
uncolored portions of the apple en-
phasiZes the Importance of allowing
Iruit to develop high color before it
IS picked for storage. Only gross
negligence on the part of the hand
.er, shipper, or warehousemen can
lullify the effect of good color and
sanitary orchard practices. On the
other hand. if fruit is poorly grown,
diseased, picked at an improper de-
gree of maturity, or improperly han
dled before it is stored, the utmost
care on the part of the warehouse
nan can not prevent the development
OF storage troubles.
In experimental work carried On
by the department apples were stor-
ed under similar conditions when
picked mature, mature, and overma
ture. In all cases the apples picked
at maturity kept 1best----The best de-
gree Of maturity it was found is
somewhat short of eating ripeness,
but after the under color has devel
oped beyond the ieaf-green shade.
The Importance of keeping the
skins of apples unbroken was demon
strated. Every bruise and scratch
furnishes a possible point of en-
trance for fungcus organisms caus-
ing decay. Nail punctures and other
injuries to the skin that are so
small as to pass unnoticed oy the av-
erage observer may result in serious
loss through the entrance of decay
organisms.
The promptness with which tle
fruit is stored and cooled after it is
picked is the most important single
factor in retarding natural decay, it
was found. The more or less COM
mon practice of permitting the fruit
to remain out of storage for several
RI i,,
may shorten it's cold storage life con-
siderably, especially if the weather is
warm. In the experiments, apples
stored Immediately Kept in good con-
uition in storage one month longer
than apples held two weeks in pack
ing houses before storage.
In the temperature experiments,
some apples were held at 81 to 80
degrees F., and others at 35 to SO de-
grees F. In all these experiments
the fruit held at 80 degrees was in
better condition and could be held
through longer storage period than
that held at the highe Temperature.
The practical effect of the higher
temperature was the same as that of
delay before storage. The life ac-
tiyities of the fruit advanced with
greater rapidity than that stored at
SO degrees and all fruit taken out of
storage from time to time was found
10 be duller, yellower, and ripper than
that held at 80 degrees. Thirtytwo
degrees was found to be safe tenn
perature, since the freezing point OF
apple juice is slightly lower than
that of water.
Experiments carried On in the
Northwest show the Rainie rapple to
be the best keeping variety in that
region. 1t remained in prime condi-
lion for market until May or later.
n length of time in which they could
be kept in such condition the \ re-
naming varieties tested ranked as
follows: Hyde King and Arkansas
Black, May; Winesap and Yellow
Newtown, last OF April; Rome Beau
ty, Northern Spy, and Missouri, mid
die of April; Delicious, last of MCh.
York Imperial, Ben Davis, Banana,
and White Pearmain, first of March;
Esopus (Spitzenberg), last of Febru-
ary; Gano and Black Ben, Stayman
Winesap and Salome, middle of Feb
ruary; Ortley, February; King Da-
vid, first of February; Mcintosh mid
Gle of January; Tompkins King and
WAGNER, January; Jonathan. first of
anuary; Arkansas Mammoth Black
Iwig), January; and Grimes, middle
20 last of December. The most of
,hese varieties are widely grown
sorts, and though the keeping quail
lies of apples vary with the climatic
md other conditions under which
they are grown, the storage behavior
| Of the different varieties noted above
| may be taken as fairly accurate in
lex of their relative keeping quail
| ties when grown in other winter ap
-le regions TO which they are well
| adapted
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