166 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



another part was added thereto: "How shall we utilize our fruit to make 

 it most profitable?" Hundreds and hundreds of bushels of peaches rotted 

 with us, and were of no use to anybody the past season. How shall we save 

 it? What plan shall we adopt to get it all into the market? We are assured 

 it is all wanted somewhere, but in a prolific season, how are we to get it into 

 the hands of the consumer? I have in my hand, a sample of peach jelly 

 which I wish you to test; perhaps in this article we can dispose of some of our 

 crop. We need cheap dryers that can be put upon any fruit farm. The using 

 up of all the fruit crop makes a great deal of labor, which it is good to employ 

 if the prices of the products will only warrant it. 



J. Austin Scott. — The danger is not in overdoing, but in not getting fruit 

 enough. Men who raise choice fruit, and market it as they ought will always 

 make it remunerative. The trouble lies in this : There is not discrimination 

 enough shown in the selection of fruit for market. Most orchardists do not 

 seem to realize the extra value that is put upon first grade fruit. The apple 

 belt is narrow, and the belt in which apples are eaten is large. 



Mr. H. C. Sherwood, Watervliet. — The first question amounts to nothing. 

 People are always harping on overdoing business of this kind, but the fact is, 

 it is never overdone. Farmers, especially, underrate the apple crop. They 

 will rather see the fruit rot than to sell it at what would net them per acre 

 more than any crop they raise. They seem to delight in getting things by the 

 hardest, and will not even utilize the more promising methods of getting 

 money. Mr. Sherwood described his fruit-house as follows: 



My building for packing and storing fruit is thirty feet square, built on a 

 hillside ; the lower story, which is used exclusively for keeping fruit, is of stone, 

 much the same as an ordinary cellar: the entrance on the lower side being on 

 a level with the drive-way leading to it. The inside of cellar wall is ceiled so 

 as to allow of packing four inches of sawdust between the boards and wall. 

 The joists overhead are also ceiled and should be perfectly tight so as to pre- 

 vent the sawdust sifting through, then pack well between the joists with 

 saw-dust. This is done, of course, before laying the floor. I used one and 

 one-half inch flooring, planed and matched. The entrance to this floor is from 

 the upper hillside and only a slight elevation above the drive-way. This floor 

 is used for storing carriages, and also allows a large space for packing peaches, 

 grapes, and other fruits in their season. The upper story is for storing fruit 

 baskets, packages for shipping, light implements used in cultivating and 

 securing the fruit. This floor is of inch stuff, planed and matched. I 

 admire this, as it is much easier to keep clean and in order. The two upper 

 stories are each nine fuet in height, with plenty of windows and blinds to 

 regulate the ventilation and light of the rooms. 



To return to the cellar, which is the principal feature of the building: It 

 is seven feet, in the clear, in height. I have a two-inch white oak plank floor 

 laid here, believing this to be the most desirable in any cellar, used for storing 

 either fruit, milk, butter, or any provisions for the house. From the cellar 

 there is a ventilator extending to the top of building — this is 12x8 inches 

 inside, to which is attached a damper to be used in regulating the temperature. 

 The doors of cellar are double, one opening out, the other in, with space of 

 eight inches between them. The space need not be packed if the doors fit 

 tightly. They are broad enough to admit a team with loaded wagon. The 

 windows are arranged for ventilation aud light with double set sash, a wire 

 screen outside, and a close fitting slide door inside, so as to exclude the light 

 when desired. There is an entrance from carriage room by staircase with 



