Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1920-01-16

Did Eou have Il basket OF fruit on
your, table during the holidays? And
did YOU notice any big red grapes
in it? t
IN his day your grandfather may
have had wonderful feast at Christ
mas or New Years, but he didn't
have any big, red grapes, or prob
ably any other kind of grapes, to
set it off.
A few years ago there were no
Amcrican-groWn grapes on the mar
ket during the holidays. TO be sure
there were some Spanish grapes that
fingered over until the holidays, but
these were a rare delicacy by Christ
mas time. For a generation our ag-
ricultural explorers have been bring
ing back from southwestern Europe
the best v"":2ties OF vinifera grapes
for planting in the southwestern
United States. Among these varieties,
the Red Emperor ripCned slightly
later than some of the others and
possessed good shipping qualities.
In an effort to extend the mark It
ing season for California grapes the
United States department. of agricul-
ture made experiments on their keep
ing qualities and mas succeeded in
deVising methods under which the
Red Emperor can be held in Stor-
age for two or three months in prime
condition. Before the department. of
agriculture tackled this problem the
marketing season for California
grapes extended from the middle Of
August to the end of November.
Some times the Job of producing
itself is only one-half the battle and
even production Oh a large scale may
await the successful working out of
plans for shipping and handling the
products. especially in the case OF
highly perisnable products such as
grapes.
E-1o Virtues OF 5awdust
Long ago the Spaniards were ship
ping grapes packed IN cork dust to
other countries. II is probable that
the old commercial dons did not know
why cork dust was such a good pack
ing material for grapes. but they did
know that grapes put up i'll cork dust
kept Wcll in shipment to distant
markets.
Today Uncle Sans commercial
scientists delve a little deeper into
SuCIl pIoDlCIIlo anu IlIlu IhoI LLlO
reason why" helps in evolving new
methods and adapting old ones to
modern needs. These men found out
that cork dust or certain kinds of
sawdust had several virtues: First
of all, such packing filled in the
spaces around the grapes and stems
and supported them in a firm pack.
1t also absorbed the moisture that
IL, 10 do
cay organisms "high and dry" so
that they could not damage the
grapes, moisture being necessary for
such organisms to thrive. 1t also in
sured the grapes against bruising
and puncturing of their skins and
thus helped to exclude decay.
Sawdust is one of the best insulat-
ing materials and prevents rapid
changes in temperature from affect
ing the grapes, which, when packed
in it, maintain a more even tempera-
.ture than they otherwise would. All
these things make for less loss in
the marketing of grapes, permitting
their storage, and are the reasons
why you can njoy grapes during the
holidays. ..4
Cork Dust Not Available .s..
Cork may be good, said CalltOr-
mans, but no cork dust was available
in California and the cost of it was
too great to permit of it's use in
shipping and storing grapes. So, the
scientists began hunt for a substi
tute. After many experiments they
found that redwood sawdust would
serve the purpose even better than
cork dust. Encouraged by the results
of these experiments, growers a. in
creased their acreage and the indus
try was, thought to be in fine shape.
The grapes were shipped in drums
or boxes packed in redwood sawduSt,
but within the last year or two this
material has not been available for
all shippers. ..
Again the department of agricul
ture was appealed to, and the bureau
of markets started experimental
shipments in other kinds of sawdust.
It was found that grapes packed in
certain other wood sawdust took
on flaVorS from the wood. and it
was necessary to- find wood that