REPORT OF MEETINGS. 559 



ventilating tubes in the ceiling over the fruit-room; and in addition to all 

 this, as the peculiar feature of this plan, there are in the chamber above a 

 couple of small sheet-iron heaters, or conical stoves, which are attached to the 

 ventilating tubes, so that when a little fire is made in the stove the draft 

 thereof causes the air to pass rapidly up the tube, thereby causing a partial 

 vacuum in the room below, and this causes a rapid ingress of cold and dry air 

 from the outside whenever it is desired to change the atmosphere of the room. 

 I was shown the working of this mode of ventilation, and it seemed very per- 

 fect. By the aid of these heaters, the air of the fruit-room and its temperature 

 can be changed very quickly, whenever it is seen that the fruit is getting too 

 warm or too damp; and the outside air is cool, as on a frosty morning in 

 autumn or spring; and when the air is renewed in this way, and the doors are 

 not opened in the meantime, the room will keep cool for a week or longer, 

 even when the weather is warm. 



There w^ere about four thousand bushels of apples in this house, consisting of 

 about a dozen varieties, and put in without any sorting or care, as hauled from the 

 orchards of the neighborhood. Such varieties as Fall Pippins, Eambo, and 

 Belmont (Gate) were just in prime eating condition at the time of my visit, 

 about as these commonly are found in December; and such as the Greening 

 and Spitzenburg were not ripe enough for finest eating condition ; and the 

 late keeping sorts, like Eussets and Willow, were as hard as when fresh from 

 the tree. Being kept all the winter so nearly at freezing point, the process of 

 ripening or decay does not go on, and consequently there is also none of that 

 loss of juiciness and flavor which is common in apples kept in ordinary cellars, 

 where the temperature is variable. 



When the fruit from these houses is sent to market, in 'May or June, it has 

 all the juiciness and flavor of freshly gathered apples, and will keep good for a 

 much longer time than any ordinary fruit at that season; consequently it sells 

 readily at high prices where known. Most of the fruit from the Cope houses 

 has been sold in the Pittsburg market; but some has gone to Columbus, Cin- 

 cinnati, and Louisville. As only a moderate sum is asked for the right, with 

 instruction for building these houses, it is probable there will be quite a num- 

 ber of them erected within a few years. 



MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS. 



Prof. Cook, of the Agricultural College, made a short talk about currant 

 ■worms, rose sings, cut-worms, peach-borers, &c. The currant worm, also 

 called the gooseberry slug, is easily killed by white hellebore, applied in solu- 

 tion, with a sprinkler,— two ounces of hellebore to live gallons of water. It 

 will rinse off with the first rain, and do no harm ; or the fruit might be washed 

 before using. An application should be made when they first appear, and 

 again in about two weeks. The rose slug may be killed by two-thirds of a k^a- 

 spoonful of Paris green in a pail full of water, sprinkled on the leaves. The 

 cut-worm, which attacks grape buds, can only be destroyed by digging them 

 out and killing them. For peach trees, put a little band of cloth around the 

 tree, and the worm cannot pass it. The borers lay their eggs at the foot of 

 the tree, in the earth, about four inches below the surface. Kemoving the earth 

 around the tree to this depth, and scraping the root of the tree, is a good 



thing. 



Mr. T. T. Lyon said it was important to remember that the currant worm 

 devDosits its e^gs on the under side of the leaves nearest the ground. The 



