Union Labor Bulletin

COLD AIR SOLVES CALIFORNIA'S MARKET PROBLEM.

Every year there moves eastward from California a long caravan of 200,000 cars of perishable commodities, mostly fruit. Something like 5,000,000 tons of ice are required to neutralize the effect of a sultry sun across long stretches of desert and to offset the none too balmy breezes that often blow across the Central and Eastern States during the warmer months of the year.

It has been estimated that in the citrus industry the loss from decay formerly ran as high as 40 per cent. And though the fruit reached the market safely it was often in a condition where it would decay almost immediately upon being taken out of the cars.

This was the condition. But the problem is today being solved by the adoption of a refrigerating method called "pre-cooling." The method is simplicity itself. Air at a low temperature is forced by a huge fan through the rooms where the fruit is placed upon being brought from the orchard. The effect is a sudden lowering of the temperature of the fruit to the desired point. Thus decay germs have no time to begin work, and the various oils given off by the fruit, which have a tendency to spoil it, are driven off. When placed in iced cars it is at a lower temperature even than the refrigerated cars and can make the journey without re-icing. If desired, the fruit when pre-cooled can simply be transferred to cold storage rooms and left for a number of days before shipping.

All these facts mean speed and control for the shipper of perishable stuff, and those two words mean stabilized markets and better prices.

Francis D. Nicol in Forbes Magazine (N. Y.).