162 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



large, and cover the inside, as well as the outside, with building paper, 

 the studs being placed just far enough apart to receive the strips of 

 paper with a little lap. Then board up both sides, thus covering the 

 building paper. This double wall will be hardly sufficient protection 

 against cold in the North, and additional protection is afforded by nail- 

 ing vertical strips of lumber, an inch or two square, on every joist, 

 adding another covering of building paper and another boarding. This 

 will make three thicknesses of boards and three of building paper, and 

 be sufficient to exclude hard frost without the addition of any sawdust 

 filling, which, if used, will be liable to cause crevices by settling, or to 

 be disturbed by vermin. Use double doors. 



Some fruit-houses have been built with 2-foot spaces filled with 

 tan or sawdust, requiring useless labor and expense, as half that thick- 

 ness would be quite enough in any case. The roof will be made in the 

 same way as above described with the shingles added. For small and 

 very simple fruit-rooms or fruit-houses, windows placed on opposite 

 sides, which may be opened to any degree either for the gradual or 

 copious admission of fresh air, will be sufficient. For a separate build- 

 ing, there should be a plank or board floor, with openings for the 

 entrance of air from below, or there may be a slatted floor, which will 

 always allow the entrance of the warmer air from the earth below and 

 prevent the freezing of the fruit, in the same way that a basement is 

 kept from freezing by the warmth of the earth. There should be 

 ventilators in the underpinning of the building, which may be shut for 

 the exclusion of warm air from without or opened for the admission of 

 cool air in the night. When cold air is to be admitted, the current for 

 its entrance is caused by an Epsy or Mott ventilator above the roof, 

 which always produces an upward draft when there is any wind or 

 breeze. A small fruit-room may occupy a portion of the basement of a 

 house, if separated from the rest of the basement by a double brick 

 wall, and a double wall is provided for the outside above the ground. 

 The same treatment must be given it as for a separate building, in main- 

 taining a uniform temperature through windows on opposite sides, 

 which are to be opened or closed as already described. Although less 

 perfect than a separate fruit-house, it requires less care in attendance, 

 and such fruit-rooms have kept winter fruit several weeks or even 

 months longer than by common management. In large fruit-houses, 

 two stories high, the entrance should be through the upper story and 

 down a flight of stairs, so as not to disturb the cool and equal tempera- 

 ture below in warm weather through the outside door. Fruit for im- 

 mediate or early use may be placed on a series of shelves, one above 

 the other, in the center of the apartment, for the attendant to pass 



