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FRUIT-KEEPING IN WINTER. 



HOW frequently are complaints heard, 

 that the reputed long-keeping kinds 

 of apples and pears, frequently decay long 

 before the times assigned in fruit manuals and 

 nursery lists for their being in season ; which 

 complaints are not unfrequently followed by 

 hasty affirmations, that all pomological authors 

 are little else than humbugs, and that espe- 

 cially no dependence is to be placed on what 

 they record in regard to the durability or 

 keeping qualities of the different kinds of 

 fruits which they essay to describe. Before 

 judging thus rashly, it is but fair, however, to 

 consider the latitudes and places for which 

 the maligned authors may have written, and 

 it is also necessary to bear in mind that the 

 great diversity which exists in the earliness 

 and lateness of different seasons has a ma- 

 terial influence on the keeping properties of 

 fruits. But far beyond all natural influences 

 are those arising from the management and 

 mismanagement of fruit-rooms and their stored 

 contents. It should be always kept in view 

 that fruits, as well as flowers and foliage, 

 have their naturally assigned limits of dura- 

 tion, which, as in the case of these two last, 

 may be lengthened or shortened according to 

 the diminution or increase of temperature to 

 which they are exposed. But, as with flowers 

 and foliage, fruit should be protected from 

 frost, yet the lower that the temperature 

 can be maintained without causing actual in- 

 jury, so much longer will long-keeping fruits 

 remain before they attain to perfect ripeness 

 or maturity, provided no other hurtful agencies, 

 such as dampness, impurity of atmosphere, 

 or contamination with decay, be allowed to 

 exert their baneful influences. 



The first care with keeping-fruit is to see 

 that it is gathered when sufficiently but not 

 over ripe ; that it be, at the same time, T)er- 

 fectly dry; and that no blemishing be caused 

 by roughness in handling or otherwise. 

 Then it should be carefully deposited in the 

 fruit-room separately, if there is sufficient 

 space to allow, but if not, then apples or 

 pears may be laid over one another, four to 

 six deep, provided due care is afterwards 

 taken in frequently looking through them, 

 and removing any that are shewing symp- 

 toms of decay. 



Shortly after being thus stored, these fruits, 

 but more especially smooth-skinned apples, 

 commence what is termed sweating, by the 

 exudation of moisture, which, if left un- 

 touched, soon becomes clammy and then 

 dry, so as to form a surface varnish, which 

 by retaining the natural moisture and ex 

 eluding air, materially aids in preserving the 

 fruit, but the drying and rubbing off of which 

 by cloths, is often the first perpetrated piece 

 of mismanagement after the fruit is shelved. 

 Until the natural drying up of this moisture 

 is completed, the fruit-room may be mode- 

 rately aired for a few hours in the morning 

 and evening, but it is better that it be shut 

 up and kept dark throughout the warmest 

 portion of the day. The great essentials for 

 fruit-keeping being an atmosphere which is 

 neither too dry nor too moist ; exclusion 

 from air, in so far as compatible with the 

 requisite dryness and freshness in the atmos- 

 phere ; the exclusion of light ; and the 

 maintaining of a nearly equal low tempera- 

 ture. 



To secure the proper amount of dryness 



