MARKETING THE CROPS 239 



seldom need concern himself with storing, since the crop is 

 usually stored by the buyers. 



Few small growers seem to have learned the art of keeping 

 grapes in common storage. There are but few difficulties in 

 keeping European grapes for several months after picking if 

 they are stored under favorable conditions. Not all, but several 

 of the native grapes may also be kept practically throughout the 

 winter if proper precautions are taken. Among these varieties 

 Catawba is the standard winter sort, but Diana, lona, Isabella, 

 Rogers' hybrids and Vergennes, all rather commonly grown, 

 may be kept by the small grower. 



To insure keeping, these native grapes must be handled most 

 carefully. The fruit is picked a few days before it is dead ripe 

 and the bunches placed in trays holding forty or fifty pounds. 

 It is important that the temperature be reduced gradually so 

 that there, are no sudden changes. If the nights are cool, a 

 valuable aid is to leave the grapes out-of-doors in crates the 

 night after they are picked, placing them in a cool building or 

 dry cellar early the next morning. The cellar or store-room 

 should be well ventilated and should be such that the tem- 

 perature is not variable, care being taken that the air in every 

 part of the storage room is changed. Draughts, however, should 

 be avoided or stems and berries will shrivel. If a temperature 

 from 40° to 50° can be maintained, the varieties named may be 

 kept until March or April. An expensive store-room is not 

 necessary and ice to cool the room is not only unnecessary but 

 undesirable. 



If the storage-room is too dry, the grapes wilt and lose flavor ; 

 if, on the other hand, the atmosphere is too damp, the grapes 

 mold. It is essential, therefore, to strike a medium between an 

 atmosphere too dry and one too wet. It is possible that a light 

 fumigation with sulfur or formaldehyde might help to keep down 

 molds in these common storage grape-rooms, but as to the value 

 of fumigation there seems to be no experimental evidence. 



