9S STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



beiieatli and on all sides of the bins. Pears and grapes may be stored io 

 trays that ran be tiered u]) and thns Icept in a comparatively small space. 



A fruit-storage house has for its special requirements such construction 

 that an even temperature can be secured and thorough ventilation pro- 

 vided. For fall use a wooden strncture built entirely above ground and 

 sui)ported npon a masonry wall or on ])osts or piers will give good satis- 

 faction. The joists should be strong and close enough together to bear any 

 weight that may be placed npon them. As a rule, 2x12 hemlock placed 

 one foot apart and well bridged will suffice, if not more than twelve feet 

 long. The floor should be double with building paper between. The con- 

 struction of the walls v.ill depend npon the length of time the fruit is to be 

 kept. For November and ordinarily through December, a house may be 

 constructed with two-by-six-inch studding, lined on both sides with heavy 

 building pajier, sheathed on the outside with siding and covered with 

 matched ceiling on the inside. If well built the six-inch dead-air space 

 thus secured, combined with the non-conducting power of the paper, will 

 serve to keep out frost even though the temperature outside may drop to 

 zero for a short time. Ordinarily it will pay to take rather more pains 

 in rendering the building fiost-proof if there is any likelihood that it will 

 be required for use in the wiater. This can be done by adding to the thick- 

 ness of the wall. Two to four 2-inch dead-air si)aces and a corresponding 

 increase in the number of thicknesses of paper and sheathing will gener- 

 ally suffice. Instead of using lumber for separating the air-spaces, it may 

 be done with paper alone. In the construction of the new storage-house at 

 the Agricultural college, the jilan of construction was the same as out- 

 lined above, except that on each side of the four-inch air space two one- 

 inch air-spaces, separated by heavy building ])aper, were formed; care 

 was taken that the spaces were indeed " dead," and all laps of the paper 

 were made at the furring strips, which were placed 'every sixteen inches 

 over the studding, and every thirty-two inches horizontally. These not 

 only held the paper flrmly in place, but divided the air-spaces into small 

 cells, and thus checked the tendency of the air to circulate. The air-spaces 

 between the vertical studding were also divided into cells. 



It will be noticed that no packing of any kind was used. Sawdust has 

 sometimes been used, but it is not satisfactory, as it absorbs moisture, and 

 not only decays itself but causes the rapid decay of the building. It soon 

 settles down and b.ecomes a poorer non-conductor than air alone would 

 have been. Mineral wool is sometimes used for refrigerators, and gives 

 excellent results, as does cliai'coal and other non-conductors. Of the ma- 

 terials available for the purpose, nothing is better, if any packing is to be 

 used, than soft-coal ashes free from clinkers. 



One side of the college store-house has been constructed in a variety of 

 ways, in order that by means of thermometers we might test the value of 

 the different methods of construction. Among the points we wish to solve 

 are the value of the ])aper ])artitions in the air-spaces; if it pays to divide 

 the air-spaces into small cells, and whether it will be best to pack the 

 spaces with cinders, or use them as dead-air s])aces only. 



Every one has noticed that on a sunny day the siding upon a building 

 often becomes very warm. As wood is a fair conductor of heat, the tem- 

 perature of the air-spaces inside must be affected to some extent and the 

 temperature of the building itself will cerlainly be increased. In order that 

 any excess of heat might be carried off from the outer air-space, it was left 



