THE FRUIT INDUSTRY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1415, 16 April 1912, Page 10

THE FRUIT INDUSTRY.

COLD STORAGE EXPERIMENT. A number of fruit-growers gathered nt the residence of Mr. 1\ Sisson, l'apanui, last week, when tho opening ceremony in connection with the first cool chamber and refrigerating plant to b» installed in a Now Zealand orchard was performed. In America, and in a lessor degree in Australia, cool chambers and refrigerating plants are in common use, but until now the experiment of placing apples as soon as possible after picking in a' steady low temperature of from 3G to 42 degrees I'nlir. has not been tried in the Dominion. , Mr. Sisson, in explaining to tho visitors the advantages of cold storage, said that he had always been of the opinion that apples could be kept in a comparatively low temperature, and to that end ho hail experimented by building a cool chamber having double brick walls tilled with sawdust and with a roof similarly trailed. That experiment, however, had not been altogether successful, as the apples trad kept no better than when plnred in the old straw-thatched place previously used. Hβ then decided to obtain a complete refrigerating outfit. A special building had boon'construoted 40ft. by 25ft, inside, measurements, capable of holding {500 Bushel w«, She S'*lla el tW* tJuuabw; xjuo.

double, consisting of nine inches of brick, three'inclies of "dead air," ;in. boarding, a covering of nialthoid, ;in. of further boarding, and then another wall. /Mr. Si'ion added that if his scheme succeeded it would enable local fruit to take the ]>lace of imported fruit, so that apples would be available at all times at a reasonable price. Tour years ago, when in Australia, ho visited a {arm which haii two cold rooms; now that farm had tea stores, each of which was similar in size to tho I'apnnui.ono, the first to be installed in fho Dominion. If the scheme .was to succeed, the storage would have to bealoiigside the orchard itself, as fruit began to ripen as soon as it was picked.