STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. ]^(j9 



be consumed in about forty-eight hours. The atmosphere is then made 

 up of the nitrogen of the air, and carbonic acid. The former is desti- 

 tute of all active properties, good or bad. The latter is not found to 

 have any ai tion on fruit immersed therein. Hydrogen and carbon then 

 cease to be evolved from the fruit, as there is no agent to unite with 

 them, in the same way that they cease to be evolved from a burning 

 candle when air is removed. Decomposition ceases in both cases, from 

 the same cause." 



It is simply the application of a principle laid down by 1 jebig, 

 who says : 



" Decay is much retarded by moisture, and by the substance being 

 surrounded with an atmosphere of carbonic acid, wliich prevents the 

 air from coming in contact with decaying mattter." 



From this it would appear that the more perfectly the fruit is 

 ripened, the better it will keep, care being taken that it be not overripe ;. 

 the process of after ripening being a purely chemicalprocess. the starch 

 being gradually converted into sugar, for however much starch a green 

 fruit may contain, it is gradually changed during the process of ripening, 

 until not a trace of starch may l)e left; for again Liebig says, "The more 

 starch the green fruit contains, the more sugar will be evolved during 

 the process of ripening." 



The same principle was used in the plan not long since promulga- 

 ted, the invention being to place the fruit in water-tight packages, and 

 fill the interstices "with carbonic acid gas, but as a matter of course, the 

 plan did not work except in theory. 



The fruit houses of Mr. Nyce were two-story buildings, tlie upper 

 chamber containing ice, the sides and Moor being double, three feet 

 thick and filled in with some nonconductor, so that the fruit room should 

 be practically air-tight. The fruit was placed on shelves or racks, to the 

 depth of two or three feet. I have had tomatoes preserved for three 

 mon.'hs in the house in Chicago, which came out in perfect condition. 

 The Chicago house, however, did not pay, and it was soon, I believe, 

 abandoned. 



'J"he elements, therefore, of a complete i;reser\ ing atmosphere are a 

 uniform temperature, just above the freezing point, dryness, purity, and 

 the exclusion as far as possible of the great agent of decomposition — 

 the oxygen of the atmos])here. Whoever can secure these conditions 

 most chea])ly will best succeed in keejoing apples,'pears, and grapes, and 

 with jdenty of these fruits out of their natural season, there is a for- 

 tune to wlionisoe\er succeeds in its accomplishment. 



T think the best i)lace for keeping fruits in their natural stale is in 

 fruit-houses with double walls, secure at the same time from frost and the 

 constant "(hanges of the atmosphere; for however cheap dried or 

 canned fruits are in the market, first-class natural fruits will always 

 command a remunerative price. A curious fact in connection with sea- 

 sons of extreme plenty like the one just passed, is, that l)eing plenty, so 

 much fruit is wasted that a scarcity almost always follows. 



