New YorK AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 253 
THE ORCHARDS. 
These orchards are located on the upland about one and one- 
half miles west of Seneca Lake at an altitude of about 600 feet 
above sea level. The trees from which most of the fruit was 
taken have mostly been top-grafted upon young trees of bearing 
age. The tops varied in age from 15 to 20 years from the graft. 
A few were either young trees or old trees not top-grafted. The 
soil is a rather heavy clay loam with heavier clay subsoil. It is 
thoroughly tile drained. Thorough tillage was given till mid- 
summer after which some cover crop was sown. The trees were 
well sprayed and pruned. The fruit usually was not thinned. 
No stable manure has been given to the trees at any time 
so far as is known except that one orchard of old trees was well 
manured in the winter of 1892-3. Acid phosphate and muriate 
of potash were applied in moderate amounts in 1896. 
The fruit was not all picked at the same time but so far as 
possible the different varieties were gathered in succession in the 
order in which they ripened or reached suitable condition for 
taking from the tree and placing in storage. They were not 
allowed to lie in the orchard after being picked but were taken 
at once to the fruit house where they were stored in bushel boxes 
arranged in compartments which were closed with hinged covers. 
(Plate XIV.) There were no covers attached to the boxes. All 
fruit in storage at any one period was similarly treated so far as 
storage conditions were concerned except as already stated, that 
it was not all brought into storage on the same date. 
THE FRUIT HOUSE. 
The fruit house was designed expressly for storing small quan- 
tities of a large number of varieties of apples or pears. It was 
built in 1895. The building faces the north. It is of wood, 
35x30 feet, one-story with a stone-wall basement having a 
southern exposure. The storage room used in these tests is 
the natural temperature room on the first floor, opening into a 
vestibule with entrance from the north. Adjoining it are a show 
room and a room for storing ice. The ice room connects with a 
room below and is not concerned in these tests. The studding 
of the walls of the building is covered both inside and outside 
