SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 239 



There are other and older methods of preserving fruit as canning and dry- 

 ing. 



I see from the September number of the Scientific American that a Mr. 

 John Doherty of the Holly Manufacturing Company of Lockport, N. Y., has 

 patented a fruit jar with an air pump. The cover is so constructed that the 

 can may be opened as easily as the spring cover of a watch. It can also, with 

 the air pump, be quickly sealed as effectually as at first, so that part of the 

 contents may be taken out from time to time as desired. The Washtenaw 

 Pomological Society has appointed a committee to confer with the Ann Arbor 

 business men's association in regard to the establishment of a factory at Ann 

 Arbor where fruits and vegetables can be preserved. 



It is desirable that, at our annual meetings, in connection with the exhibit 

 of fruits, the most improved machinery for the preparation of fruit preserves, 

 and fruit juices should be exhibited. 



The time is coming when our farmers and fruit- growers will have fruit and 

 fruit syrups on their tables three times per day and when fruit preserved and 

 manufactured in its purity will be as common an article of commerce as the 

 cereals. The manufacture of the so called cheap jellies where all kinds of 

 filthy articles are used with artificial coloring, to deceive the eyes of the pur- 

 chasers, should be prosecuted and the manufacture of a pure, wholesome 

 article encouraged. 



There are certainly abler men in the State Horticultural Society than your 

 •correspondent who can investigate this topic more closely and more success- 

 fully. 



FRUIT RETARDING HOUSES. 



Under the above title Mr. Robert D. Graham of Grand Eapids, presented 

 ihe following notes : * 



Mr. Graham said : The subject of retarding the ripening of our various 

 varieties of fruits is one that has been productive of much theory and many 

 methods, and while I am in possession of nothing new in relation to this 

 matter, a few notes from my short experience may be of interest to some. 



This retarding process after the fruit has been gathered is accomplished by 

 storing in houses built for that purpose which are either cold or ice storage or 

 dry cold air storage, the latter being used exclusively for winter fruit or at 

 least for such fruit as can be kept in the ordinary condition until cold weather 

 begins. 



The society's volume for 1882 contains a full description of a house built 

 for this purpose by S. W. Dorr. 



Of the method known as cold storage there seems to be a great difference 

 of opinion, some pronouncing it a success while others deem it a failure, and 

 advocates and opponents are found at every point between the two extremes. 



It is designed for storing any and all kinds of fruit at any season of the 

 year, and is constructed to contain either a permanent supply of ice for 

 the whole season or with the intention of replenishing as the ice melts, as 

 in the case of ordinary refrigerators. 



These cold houses must be well and strongly built ; they are usually, and I 

 thing should always, be built entirely above ground, using 2x8 inch studding, 

 boarding on each side and packing with sawdust or some like material, then 

 making a two inch air space both outside and in, the inside space to contain 

 •dead air and the outside a circulation. The whole house, top, sides, and floor 



