Beptombcr 12, 18C6. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



207 



other 3 inchea, and each 3 inches less in width jirdnressively 

 iipwardf. The centre is simply a cDUutcrjiart of the outside, 

 and is divided hy n partition of stone. 



So mucli for the fittings of the cellar. The npper or fruit- 

 room on the first floor should ho furnished with wood-shelves, 

 and hcech wood is the hest. They may bo of the sumo width, 

 but the lowest should not bo more than t'l inches, and the 

 npper shelf not less nor more than 3 inches in di pth. A four- 

 inch hot-water pipe laid under the pathway, and covered with a 

 grate will complete the arrangements of the room on the first 

 floor. It is scarcely necessary to say the walls should bo 

 plastered and well whitewashed, and have effectivo spouting 

 to carry off the water from the roof. 



Wo have now a fruit-celhir and a fruit-room, and need not 

 care for anything furtlier, unless it he a " ripening-room," 

 which need only be half the size of eitlier the other rooms, and 

 fitted up with birch, beech, or elm shelves, two all round ; the 

 first a yard from the floor, and the other 18 inches above it, 

 and 1 foot less iu width, with a ledge all round for half an 

 inch of dry silver sand. In tlie centre should be a table 4 feet 

 wide and 3 feet from the floor, having another IH inches above 

 it, and half the width, and only extending so far as to leave a 

 space of 12 feet without the npper shelf over the first centre 

 shelf. This part of the shelf is to be covered with green haize, 

 and divided into squares by half-inch strips of birch wood dyed, 

 the first 1 foot from the edge longitudinally, and then cross- 

 wise the entire width ; the outer into foot squares, and the 

 central one into two-feet squares. This part is for fruit fit for 

 table, from whence the proprietor can select at will, and to 

 treat and present to friends. This room will require to have a 

 glass roof, and be heated so as to maintain a temperature of 

 45^ to 50' in winter, and provision made for thorough ventila- 

 tion. 



I do not intend to maintain that fruit cannot be kept sound 

 without the appliances I have detailed, but the rooms most 

 resembUng these I have found best for keeping fruits. The 

 cellar would take the long-keejiing and those desired to be kept 

 a longer period than usual ; the fruit-room proper the autumn 

 and early winter fruits ; the ripening-room being desirable to 

 bring out more fully the flavour, from the presence of air, light, 

 and warmth being necessary for the elaboration of saccharine 

 matter. When it is not desirable to " keep " fruit (but I am 

 ignorant of when that is), any cool dry room will do for storing 

 Pears, and it does not matter about their being kept in the 

 (lark. The fruit in such a room wUl ripen in due season, the 

 different kinds following each other in the order of ripening. 

 For Apples a room of this kind is not desirable, for the presence 

 of light and air will cause the fruit to shrivel, whereas we wish 

 them to be firm, juicy, and crisp. 



Fruit should be gathered before it is fully mature, and so 

 soon as it parts easily from the tree by reversing its position. 

 The fruit is to be gathered on a di-y day, and after a continu- 

 ance of dry weather, and during the mid-day hours chiefly. 



The main points in gathering fruit are to avoid bruising, to 

 be sure that it is dry, aud nearly mature, but not so much tlie 

 latter as to fall from the trees when touched or disturbed. To 

 guard against bruising, the gathering-basket should be lined 

 with cloth, and the fruit placed carefully iu it, and as carefully 

 taken out one by one and laid on a floor, and if covered with 

 dry sand all the better. It should not only be gathered aud 

 handled with the greatest care to prevent bruising, but the 

 nails of the lingers be kept from penetrating through the skin, 

 and that scrubbing and rubbing should bo avoided, which some 

 people seem to take a pride iu wheu they get hold of fine 

 handsome fruit. The practice of gathering fruit into a small 

 basket, emptying into a larger, and then tumbling the whole 

 on to a hard floor is pretty nearly obsolete, and where it is still 

 practised should be at once abolished. Small bruises inflicted 

 at the time of gathering and the storing of fruit iu the slightest 

 cracked or bruised, or having small holes in them, whether the 

 results of birds pecking at them or wasps digging into them, is 

 certain to lead to decay, not only of the fruit so eaten or bruised 

 but of those which are sound if in contact with the decaying 

 fruit. Injured fruits should he taken from the sound and 

 stored by themselves. 



The day after the fruit is gathered it should be stored 

 away, and not left in heaps to heat or sweat. The autumn 

 and early winter fruits should be placed in the fruit-room, 

 commencing with those that keep the shortest time, placing 

 them on the upper shelves, which are best covered with half 

 an inch of diy pit sand. The fruit will rest easily on the sand 

 and not be bruised in the laying, as it may be when laid on 



the hard shelf. Each fruit to be laid so that it docs not 

 touch that adjoining, and when the first tier is laid they 

 should be covered with dry sand so as to cover the fruit about 

 an inch. Tlie second shelf downwards will take two tiers with 

 half an inch of sand between if tlie fruit be small, or one if 

 large, with a covering of 2 inches of sand. The third shelf 

 two or three tiers of fruit according to their size, to be covered 

 with 3 inches of sand, and the lower tier in like manner, 

 jdacing that which will keep but a short time on the upper, 

 and the longest, and so on progressively downwards. Any 

 fruit not keeping beyond a few days need not be stored in this 

 manner, but be placed in a room fripm 4.")° to 50 \ and with 

 both light aud air; and all fruit, especially that for dessert or 

 table use, should be brought from the store fruit-room ten days 

 to a fortnight before using and jilaced in a room having wannth, 

 air, and light. It will thus be vastly improved in appearance 

 and flavour. A temperature of 40 to 1.')' is sufficient after 

 November, whilst 45" to 50° will be b<tter jireviously. 



I will now say a word as to ]ilacing fruit on the bare shelves. 

 The fruits are bruised by so lying, and being exjiosed the air 

 plays too freely around, and they are sure to be handled more, 

 whereas fruit cannot be handled too little. Some Apjdes and 

 Pears keep fairly on shelves, but they may have a turpentine 

 taint if the wood forming the shelves be deal. As for placing 

 fruits on and covering them with straw I can only say it is not 

 objectionable for baking-Apples and stewing-Pears, if it be 

 Rye or ^Vheat straw and very dry and clean, but even the baro 

 wood is to be preferred for dessert fruit. 



The long-keeping fruit is to be housed in the cellar, remem- 

 bering that the lowest bins are for the very long keeping Pears 

 and Apples, and the Walnuts aud Filberts, and if there be a 

 damp place in it that is the place of places for the last two. 

 Two tiers only to be placed in the two lowest bins, no two fruits 

 to touch, and the bin to be filled with sand. For very long 

 keeping one or more bins should be filled with fruit packed 

 in and covered with powdered charcoal, which is undoubtedly 

 the best preservative known. It would add to the keeping if a 

 few stone jars were filled with fruit, packed in either sand or 

 charcoal dust so that no two fruits touched, burying the jar 

 in the sand in the bin, and covering with at least 9 inches of 

 sand. 



The fruit being stored away, and none but the really sound 

 stored, it will not be necessary to examine it before its usual 

 season of ripening, when a few fruits being seen to will soon 

 determine whether tliey will not keep longer. In that case a 

 part of the fruit is to be ])laced where it will ripen fully. If it 

 will keep longer then a part as before may he taken out to 

 ripen, and the others remain longer until all are removed for 

 ripening. Any that are expressly packed for very late keep- 

 ing should not be touched until the time arrives they were 

 calculated upon to keep — say, Eibston Pijipin Apples until 

 February, Scarlet Nonpareil to March, the Old Nonpareil to 

 May ; and of Pears, Glou Morceau to February, Beurr6 de 

 Ranee to May, and Ne Plus Meuris to May and occasionally 

 June, it being the latest-keeping Pear of which I have ex- 

 perience. 



I will now say a few words in regard to the keeping of Brown 

 Beurre Pears, being those regarding which a correspondent, 

 asked particularly, and whose query prompted me to write these 

 notes. The Brown Beurre usually is a good keeping variety 

 though its season is early, and not very long. In an ordinary 

 fruit-room it comes into use at the end of October, and con- 

 tinues well nigh through November, and occasionally into De- 

 cember. In a cool, dark room its season is prolonged a fort- 

 night or three weeks. It is neeiUess attempting to keep such 

 Pears as this beyond their season, and I find more Pears rot 

 because they will keep no longer, and people then say they 

 have kept badly. Fruits are no exception to the rule, every- 

 thing has its season. Pears as they ripen must, therefore, be 

 used, or they will decay. We can only look upon fruit as bad- 

 keeping when it decays before it is fit for table. In that case 

 the fault usually lies in gathering and storing; probably the 

 fruit being over-mature when gathered, or cracked, wounded, 

 or otheiTvise defective. 



But to resume. Fruit stored in an ordinary fruit-room, and, 

 in fact, in any room, will need looking to at the least once 

 a- week, more especially when it is stored so that the fruits are in 

 contact, and then determine how the different kinds come on 

 for ripening, and as far as can be done remove any fruit be- 

 ginning to decay. It is a bad practice to be continually hand- 

 ling and turning fruit over, and knocking it about. The less 

 of this the better. Once stored there let it remain, for if the 



