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THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



they were filled, and the fruit rolled out 

 anyhow on the floor in heaps " to sweat." 

 In the course of a fortnight, a closet was 

 cleared out and boarded up in front, so as 

 to convert it into bins. A stratum of hay 

 was laid down in cadi bin, then a layer of 

 fruit upon it, then hay again, and so on, 

 till every bin was filled. In the course of 

 three weeks, the smell of the apples in the 

 house became intolerable; the closet was 

 opened, and the stench that rushed out 

 was, for the first hour, terrible. Then 

 the fruit was examined. The top layer 

 looked well, but the apples were soft and 

 flavourless, the second layer was half 

 melted into a paste, and the remainder of 

 the bottom of each bin was cooked by the 

 fermentation of fruit and hay together, and 

 had all run into a disgusting jelly. Let 

 our readers beware how they pack fruit 

 with any material that will absorb and 

 retain moisture. 



One of the best fruit- rooms, of the make- 

 shift sort, I know of, is a large recess in a 

 stone-floored dairy, in the house of one of 

 my neighbours. At one end there is an 

 arch in the wall, forming a sort of tun- 

 nelled retreat, which is paved with a 

 continuation of the flags. There is just 

 height enough for one person to enter 

 stooping, and the width is about ten feet. 

 At the back are some rough shelves fixed 

 against the wall, and the fruit is spread on 

 these shelves and laid on the stone- floor, 

 and is seldom turned or looked at, but 

 taken away as wanted, and pears and 

 apples, grapes in bunches, morello cherries, 

 and other lands of fruit keep admirably — 

 better than in many a well-built fruit- 

 house. They are safe from frost, heat, and 

 light, and have just as much air as 

 necessary, and no more. 



The next best fruit-room on the make- 

 shift principle, that I remember, is in the 

 humble cottage of a neighbour of mine, who 

 is noted here and for miles round, for his 

 skill as a fruit-grower, and the immense 

 quantities of apples and pears, plums, and 

 bush-fruits, he manages to gather from a 

 very small strip of ground. He has 

 appropriated an attic under the thatch of 

 his cottage to the purpose, by fitting shutters 

 to the window ; the shutters are opened only 

 when there is something doing among the 

 fruit. All round, he has open battens, on 

 which the apples are piled like we see shot 

 piled in an arsenal — no straw, or any kind 

 of litter about them. The centre of the 

 room is occupied with some old crates, such 

 as are used to pack glass in, and these are 



stacked full with a mere sprinkling of straw 

 among the fruit, to prevent, injury by 

 pressure. Then, under the battens, all round 

 the room, is a continuous row of large 

 earthenware pans, with close-fitting lids, in 

 which, the best and longest-keeping sorts 

 are stored. Christmas generally clears off 

 every visible pear and apple, and then the 

 pans give up their stores, and the fruit comes 

 out of them as fresh looking, as plump, and 

 as gummy to the touch as when fresh 

 gathered, and, as you may be sure, very 

 much improved in flavour. Apples and 

 pears keep this way, till May or June 

 of the next season — nay, my friend has 

 kept French crabs in -those pans for two 

 years ; — but then his fruits are gathered 

 like gold-dust, in baskets, over which pieces 

 of old sacking have been stretched to 

 prevent bruising. They are left in the 

 baskets a week, and then carefully sorted, 

 and those put in the pans are simply laid in 

 one upon the other, till the pan is full, and 

 the lid put on. Once or twice during the 

 winter, the whole are shifted, by simply 

 beginning at one side of the room, and 

 removing every fruit out of the first pan, 

 into a spare one, in which it is shut down. 

 The one emptied, is then wiped clean and 

 dry with a cloth — not washed — and the 

 contents of the second pan shifted into that 

 and so on to the end. Thus, any that are 

 beginning to decay, are detected and 

 removed in time, and the state of the whole 

 store ascertained. It is tedious work, but 

 the increased value of good fruit in the 

 early part of the spring, fully compensates. 



I have tried dry sand, and dry sawdust, 

 in which to pack apples and pears, and 

 have found them to keep better so, than in 

 any other kind of packing material, but the 

 sand makes them gritty, and one feels a 

 natural repugnance to washing fruit, either 

 for dessert or the kitchen, and it is impossible 

 to get the sand out of the eyes and stalks 

 without, so that this is a great objection to 

 sand. Apart from that, however, I never 

 saw fruit keep more plump and fresh than in 

 sand, and they may be fitted in layers, and 

 made up to a slope with less trouble and 

 greater certainty, than by any other method 

 of keeping. Next to sand, sawdust is 

 capital and cleanly, but I would, myself, 

 never use any but beech or maple sawdust ; 

 all woods that have an odour, or any amount 

 of resin, such as deal, mahogany, &c, are 

 sure to communicate a flavour to the fruit 

 that deteriorates it. 



Lincoln, B. B. B. 



