improvement when possible in methods of harvesting, separating, sorting, and packing cranberries. HARVESTING. Careful experiments in which the keeping quality of hand-picked cranberries was compared with that of scooped berries have not shown any very decided advantage in favor of either method, provided the scoopers were not allowed to pick up dropped berries from the ground. A series of tests in New Jersey in the fall of 1916 showed that the keeping quality of these dropped berries was much inferior to that of berries picked or scooped from the vines. The results of these tests are summarized in Table VIII. The experiment with Early Black cranberries was conducted by Mr. Franklin S. Chambers. Adjacent similar plats of each variety were marked on the bog; then the berries from half the plats were picked by hand by experienced pickers and the remainder harvested by experienced scoopers. All berries were stored for two months in ventilated 1-bushel boxes in adjacent piles in a ventilated storage house. TABLE VIII.—Effect of different methods of harvesting upon the keeping quality of cranberries, as shown by tests made in New Jersey in 1916. Berries picked up from the ground after scooping, as Table VIII shows, bore a much higher percentage of the slight injuries mentioned above than did any of the other fruit, and, as was to be expected, this was the cause of their poor keeping quality. It seems from this evidence that if dropped fruit is picked up from the ground it should be kept separate, in order not to lower the grade or keeping quality of all the berries. It is probable that neither method of harvesting can be said to be best under all conditions, but that factors other than keeping quality. such as length and uniformity of pine growth, will influence or determine the method to be preferred in any particular locality. SEPARATING AND SORTING. Very important and difficult to eliminate are the numerous unnoticed injuries caused in the processes of separating, sorting, and packing the fruit. Franklin (4, p. 21) has published data which show that the bruising caused by running berries through the separator and by dropping them into a barrel markedly increases the amount of rot. The results of the investigation of the writers fully substantiate these conclusions. Great injury is also caused by squeezing the berries in sorting. In this process the decayed berries are often detected by touch even more than by sight, and much sound fruit is thus squeezed or pressed unnecessarily. The resulting bruises, while imperceptible, frequently serve to start decay. An illustration of the relation of bruises received in separating and sorting to the development of decay in storage is found in the results of a test made at Whitesbog, N. J., in the fall of 1917, in which 75 bushels of Early Black cranberries were picked on September 14 from plats which had been thoroughly sprayed during the summer. On September 21 the berries from each plat were divided into three representative parts. One part was then set aside in the storage house without further handling. The second part was sorted by hand on stationary sorting tables by commercial sorters, the percentage of unsound fruit noted, and the sound berries placed in the storage house. The berries remaining were then separated by machine and finally by hand in the usual commercial manner, the percentage of unsound fruit noted, and the apparently sound berries placed in storage. In this last method practically all unsound berries were removed by the machines, and the berries therefore suffered very little by handling during the final process of hand sorting. All the berries were stored for nearly six weeks in ventilated storage boxes of 1-bushel capacity in a house in which the temperature varied from 15° C. to 7° C. during the season. For purposes of further comparison, 32 bushels of the Early Black variety that were picked on the same day (Sept. 14) from unsprayed plats on the same bog were divided, handled, and stored at the same time and in the same manner as those from the sprayed plats. Berries of good keeping quality (sprayed) were thus compared with those of poor keeping quality (unsprayed) as to the effect upon them of separating or sorting before storage. On October 31 all the berries were removed from storage, sorted by commercial sorters, and the percentage of unsound fruit noted. The results are summarized in Table IX. TABLE IX.—Increase in amount of rot due to separating or sorting cranberries, as shown by tests made at Whitesbog, N. J., in 1917. Table IX shows that even with berries of excellent keeping quality the amount of decay developed in storage was nearly doubled by a previous sorting either by hand or by machine and that the effect of hand sorting was at least as severe as that of machine separating. On berries of potentially poor keeping quality the effect was similar but very much more marked. It appears that these berries did not decay in storage any faster than the sprayed berries unless they had been bruised previously by sorting, but that when so bruised the rot developed rapidly and in large amount. Here, again, hand sorting alone proved slightly more injurious than separating by machine. This experiment indicates that the berries should be handled as little as possible and as late as possible before disposal, especially in the case of fruit of bad or doubtful keeping quality. As another example of the increase in the amount of decay which is caused by hand sorting, the results of a test made at Wareham, Mass., in the fall of 1917 may be cited. Ten bushel boxes of Early Black cranberries were scooped on September 12 in such a way that two boxes came from each of five different regions of the bog, the two boxes from each region being as nearly alike as possible. All the berries were stored with abundant ventilation at a temperature which varied from 15° to 5° C. (59° to 41° F.) as the season advanced. Five boxes, one of each pair, were carefully hand sorted on October 3 and the good berries replaced in the boxes and held until November 6, when all the berries were sorted. The results, summarized in Table X, indicate that the sorting on October 3 more than doubled the amount of rot during the following month. TABLE X.-Increase in rot due to the sorting of cranberries, as shown by a test made at Wareham, Mass., in 1917. To avoid such losses as have been cited, all berries, especially those of doubtful keeping quality, should be handled as little as possible, they should be cleaned as near the time of shipping as possible, and in sorting care should be exercised not to touch or bruise the berries unnecessarily. It is possible that separating machines may be devised which will injure the fruit less than those at present in use. Improvement can certainly be made in the methods of hand sorting. The most thorough sorting is not necessarily the best if it is accompanied by too much handling of the berries. Sorting belts in which the berries pass from the separator over a slowly moving belt which carries them in front of the sorters and deposits those not removed in a box or barrel at the end have the advantage of making it unnecessary for sorters to handle the fruit roughly, provided there is some device for turning the berries on the belt. An easer of some kind should be used to prevent bruising when berries drop into a barrel or other container. SHIPPING IN THE CHAFF. When berries come from the bog they have more or less leaves, broken vines, or other foreign matter mixed with them. Fruit in this condition is said to be "in the chaff." As a result of the knowledge of the fact that the processes of cleaning cranberries increase their tendency to decay and that it is advantageous to place them before the consumer as soon as possible after cleaning, some growers have attempted shipping berries in the chaff and having them cleaned at destination. For berries particularly subject to decay after sorting this plan is apparently to be recommended. The writers have had the opportunity to test this method in only one instance, a shipment of berries from a bog in Wareham, Mass., to Chicago, Ill. Two varieties were used in the experiment, and equal quantities of berries as uniform as could be secured were chosen. Half of each lot was carefully separated and sorted before shipment and the shrinkage noted; the other half was shipped in the chaff. At destination all lots were run through a separator and the shrinkage again noted. The berries were packed in Wareham on 1 Easer is a term the writers apply to any device for breaking the fall to prevent bruising. (1) BROOKS, CHARLES, and COOLEY, J. S. 1917. Temperature relations of apple-rot fungi. In Jour. Agr. Research, v. 8, no. 4, p. 139-164, 25 fig., 3 pl. (2) CHANEY, A. U. (3) 1915. Address to the members of the New England Cranberry Sales Company. In Ann. Rpt. New Eng. Cranberry Sales Co., 1915, p. 26-37. 1916. Address to the members of the New England Cranberry Sales Company. In Ann. Rpt. New Eng. Cranberry Sales Co., 1916, p. 23-33. (4) FRANKLIN, H. J. (5) 1916. Report of cranberry substation for 1915. In Mass. Agr. Expt. 1917. Report of cranberry substation for 1916. In Mass. Agr. Expt. Sta. Bul. 180, p. 183-234. 1917. (6) GRIFFITH, H. S. 1913-1917. Report [as] chairman of inspectors. In Ann. Rept. New Eng. Cranberry Sales Co., 1913, p. 17-24; 1914, p. 19-28; 1915, p. 43-52; 1916, p. 19-22; 1917, p. 17–24. (7) SCAMMELL, H. B. 1917. Cranberry insect problems and suggestions for solving them. U. S. Dept. Agr., Farmers' Bul. 860, 42 p., 38 fig. (8) SHEAR, C. L. (9) (10) (11) (12) 1907. Cranberry diseases. U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Plant Indus. Bul. 110. 64 p., 7 pl. (2 colored). Bibliography, p. 55-57. 1917. End rot of cranberries. p. 35-42, 3 fig., pl. A. In Jour. Agr. Research, v. 11, no. 2 Literature cited, p. 41. 1917. Spoilage of cranberries after picking. In Proc. 48th Ann. Conv. Amer. Cranberry Grow. Assoc., 1917, p. 6–9. STEVENS, NEIL E., and RUDOLPH, B. A. 1917. Observations on the spoilage of cranberries due to lack of proper 1918. The reduction of cranberry losses between field and consumer. Ia (13) STEVENS, NEIL E. (14) 1916. A method for studying the humidity relations of fungi in culture. In Phytopathology, v. 6, no. 6, p. 428-432. Literature cited. p. 432. 1917. Temperatures of the cranberry regions of the United States in relation to the growth of certain fungi. In Jour. Agr. Research. v. 11, no. 10, p. 521-529, 3 fig. ADDITIONAL COPIES OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE PROCURED FROM 5 CENTS PER COPY |