ll{j TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



Where the soil is perfectly dry to a* sufficient depth, or capable of 

 perfect drainage, a fruit-liouse may be readily built under a barn or car- 

 riage-house, provided no slock is kept in the barn. The walls should 

 be seven feet high, and if three sides are under the ground, the other 

 side may be exposed to the weather if the ventilators and windows arc 

 double. 



To prevent frost entering through the upper floor, it will only be 

 necessary to have the beams one foot deep, the floor to be made of com- 

 mon two-inch plank, the joists or beams to be covered with matched 

 boards for the ceiling; if the inter-spaces are filled with sawdust, or 

 some material of like nature, frost a\ ill not enter. A trap-door should 

 be provided for taking out fruit, or entering the cellar in cold weather; 

 and a chimney also, for ventilation in extreme weather. If the whole 

 cellar is not wanted for fruit, it can be partitioned off and a part used 

 for storing vegetables. If the fruit in a cellar of this description be 

 kept in tight packages, the temperature may run down to twenty-eight 

 degrees for several days together, next the walls, without injury to the 

 fruit, provided the packages are tight; and as an index to the temper- 

 ature, a sufficient number of thermometers should be kept, at top and 

 bottom, to indicate the degree of cold, so that when the frost once gets 

 in the room, means may be taken to obviate it. 



One of the principal reasons of failure in keeping fruit is that care 

 is not taken to keep it uniformly cool from the time of picking, and as 

 near the freezing point as possible. This may be measurably attained 

 by admitting the air at night, and closing it in the day-time until hard 

 weather comes on. It is the true secret of greatest success. 



Before leaving this branch of the subject, I would say that all plans 

 for the preservation of fruits in their natural state aim at keeping them 

 just above freezing point ; as Nyce's, Schooley's, etc., are founded upon 

 principles only differing in the details. One other plan that may receive 

 a passing notice is .Smith's method of driving out the atmospheric air 

 from the packages containing the fruit, by means of the introduction of 

 carbonic acid and nitrogen through a tube ; this is effected by first pass- 

 ing a current of common air through a vessel of burning charcoal ; and, 

 although the plan is feasible, it has not resulted in profit. 



We now come to preservation of fruits by drying. This plan has 

 been practiced from remote times by simple exposure to the air ; but 

 the fruit becomes so black from oxygenation and dust, that its market 

 value is slight. In order to be salable it most be dried by the applica- 

 tion of heat. This is performed in a variety of ways by the simple ra- 

 diation of heat, and by currents of hot air forced either up through the 

 prepared fruit, or down from above. The last is, we believe, the Rut- 

 tan system, and is used principally for drying grain. 



The Alden process is performed by carrying to a certain point a 

 series of shelves automatically, and at such regular intervals in a hot-air 

 chamber, that when the fruit reaches this point it is cured. Thus when 

 one tray is taken out, another is put in. The erection of thcge works 



