THE SECRETARY'S PORTFOLIO. 191 



PRESERVING FRUIT. 



California fruit-growers have made a discovery, it appears, in keeping fruit 

 fresh for a long time. It is done merely by packing it in carbonized wheat 

 bran. Tiie discoverer of this method claims that by it peaches, grapes, and 

 similar perishable fruits may be so well preserved as to be had in perfect con- 

 dition in midwinter. Another advantage is that fruits so packed may be shipped 

 by slow freight, and consequently at lower rates than by fast freight. 



PRESERVATION OF APPLES. 



A set of experiments made recently in Germany, by Sorauer, are interesting 

 as bearing upon the question whether winter ap[)les can best be kept in a dry 

 or a damp cellar. The result of these trials clearly corroborates the conclusions 

 set forth by Dr. Hoskins in your issue of November 6th. Sorauer promises 

 that while there is no longer any doubt in men's minds that light and warmth 

 had better be excluded in order that apples may be kept fresh and be hindered 

 from becoming over-ripe, there is still a wide diversity of opinion as to whether 

 damp or dry air is most favorable for the preservation of the fruit. To test 

 the question, he experimented with several kinds of apples, particularly the 

 "Winter Golden Pearmain." Three separate lots of apples having been 

 weighed out, one lot was spread on shelves in an ordinary fruit cellar, another 

 lot was kept in air from which moisture had been pretty thoroughly removed 

 by chemicals, and the third lot in air that was completely saturated with mois- 

 ture. On re-weighing the several lots after the lapse of some time, it was 

 found that the apples kept in the air of the cellar had lost three and a half per 

 cent of their weight; those kept in dry air almost eight per cent; while those 

 kept in air saturated with moisture had lost but little more than one-half per 

 cent. It could not be perceived that any advantage was gained by using the 

 dry air. On the contrary, the apples kept in the dry air shriveled more than 

 the others, and manifestly ripened more rapidly, so that in the later months of 

 the experiment they were less sweet than the others, and a larger proportion of 

 them decayed. Not a few of them became rotten-ripe, and this in spite of the 

 fact that, as was naturally to bo expected, rather less mouldiness appeared, as 

 time went on, upon the fruit kept in the dry air than upon that in the air 

 which was saturated with moisture. The importance of hindering the fruit 

 from coming too quickly to full maturity was further illustrated in these exper- 

 iments by the fact that the first apples to decay were those which were ripest, 

 that is to say, most mature, at the beginning of the experiments. — Prof. Slorer 

 in Rural Neio Yorher. 



CUT AWAY DEAD BRANCHES. 



Dead branches are usually looked upon as simply unsightly, doing no injury 

 to the tree upon which they remain; but the Gardeners' Monthly urges their 

 removal because of the draught upon the tree for moisture. It says: Our 

 readers must remember that only recently has it been clearly demonstrated 



