Storage

Car refrigeration and cold storage of fruit are

comparatively modern developments. Few persons who have not been

affected directly realize what a tremendous influence they have had

upon the fruit, and particularly the apple industry. Apples could not

be shipped any very great distance. Crops had to be marketed

immediately and when they were large the markets were soon glutted and

the fruit became almost valueless. The first hot spell would

demoralize the trade altogether. Then later in the season the supply

would become exhausted and famine would ensue where but a few weeks

before there had been a feast. Under such conditions it is not

surprising that the apple industry did not develop very rapidly and

that apple growing was mostly confined to areas near the larger

markets.



The coming of the refrigerator car extended fruit-growing over a much

wider area. Refrigeration on shipboard opened up and enlarged the

export trade. Cold storage warehouses lengthened the season by holding

over the surplus of fruit, thus relieving fall gluts in the market and

providing a winter supply of apples. These conditions created a more

stable market with more uniform prices, extending the business from a

side issue to one of chief importance. Marketing has become almost a

business by itself, inducing the formation of growers' associations

and creating a profitable occupation for large dealers and commission

men. These conditions, too, have led to speculation.



Two kinds of storage are used, common or cellar storage and cold

storage. Both are about equally available, but the latter is too

expensive for the small grower. There is always a question as to the

advisability of the small grower storing his fruit. Storage means a

degree of speculation. "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,"

especially when the bird is a good one. So far as rules can be laid

down, the following are pretty safe ones to keep in mind: It is safest

to store apples when they are of the highest quality; in a season most

unfavorable to common storage; when the fewest are being stored; when

the price in the fall is medium to low, never when high; and when one

can afford to lose the whole crop.



Successful storage requires several things: good fruit, stored

immediately after picking, careful sorting and handling, subsequent

rest, and a reasonable control of the temperature. The functions of

storage are to arrest ripening, retard the development of disease, and

furnish a uniform, cold temperature. Storage of apples does not remedy

over-ripeness nor prevent deterioration of already diseased, bruised,

or partly rotted fruit. There are three general methods of storage:

(1) by ventilation, (2) by the use of ice and (3) by mechanical means.



Cooling by ventilation offers the most practical system for a farm

storage. It requires that there be perfect insulation against outside

temperature changes, adequate ventilation, and careful watching of

temperatures. To provide for good insulation a dead air space is

necessary. This can be secured by a course of good two-inch boards

with one or two layers of building paper inside and out, over a

framework of two-by-fours. Over the building paper tight, well matched

siding should be laid also inside and out. Two of the dead air spaces

will make insulation doubly sure.



To provide for proper ventilation construct an intake for cold air at

the bottom, and an outlet for warm air at the top of the room. These

should serve all parts of the room, one being necessary for this

purpose every twelve to sixteen feet. Do not depend too much on

windows. Warm-air flues should be twelve inches square and six to

twelve feet long.



The attention to such a house is most important. Keep it closed

tightly early in the fall with blinded windows. When nights get cool

open the doors and windows to let in cold air, closing them again

during the day. On hot days close the ventilators also. In this way a

temperature of 36 to 40 degrees Fahr. can be secured in early fall and

one of 32 to 33 degrees Fahr. later. This is probably the cheapest as

well as the most practical method of farm storage.



Ice storage is quite practical in the North, but more expensive. The

principle of such a storage is to keep ice above the fruit, allowing

the cold air to flow down the sides of the room. A shaft in the middle

of the room will serve to remove the warm air. This method is open to

the objection of difficulty in storing the ice above the fruit.

Moreover the uniformity of its cold air supply is questionable.

Mechanical storage in which cold temperatures are secured by the



compression or absorption of gases is altogether impracticable for

individual growers, as it costs from $1.50 to $2.00 a barrel of

capacity to construct such a storage. Rents of this kind of storage

range from 10 to 25 cents a barrel per month, or 25 to 50 cents a

barrel for the season of from four to six months.