{ an 
440 MINNEAPOLIS STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. © 
superlative degree, and will put some of his surplus energy in this 
work. This journal is now inits fifth year and should succeed, as it 
is, so far as we know, the only one of its kind in America. 
PROF. GREEN’S NEW FORESTRY BOOK.—Our readers may not know 
that Prof S. B. Green, of the State Experiment Station, is about issu- 
ing, under the auspices of the State Forestry Association, a manual 
of forestry especially adapted to meet the wants of our state. Itis 
to contain descriptions of the varieties of trees found in our state 
and will be very generally illustrated. As the book will be for free 
distribution by the society issuing it, a large boom may be expected 
in its circulation. It will be used asa class book at our state agri- 
cultural college. 
A “HOME GROWN” MUSHROOM.— 
“A thirty-pound mushroom belonging to the polypus family is being exhibited by 
the Minneapolis Mycological Society, in the Cirkler drug store window. It was found 
by Dr. Wooding, and is edible.’’—Minneapolis Journal. 
COLD STORAGE FRUIT HOUSE. 
F, M. HEXAMER. 
To preserve fruit or retard its ripening, it has to be stored in pure 
air. These conditions can be produced in various ways, but the 
simplest and least expensive method for the farm use is to build a 
two-story ice house, the ground floor of which is for the storage of 
fruit and the upper for ice. The most important part of such a 
house is the proper construction of the dividing floor upon which 
the ice rests. Thetimbers, the size of which depends on the quan- 
tity of ice to be supported by them, are so arranged as to have nar- 
row openings between one another to admit the cold air from the 
ice chamber proper to descend to the storage room, and also to 
facilitate the dripping of the water from the melting ice. To pre- 
vent the water from falling on the fruit, an additional floor or roof 
has to be constructed under the dividing floor. The best ma- 
terial for this purpose is galvanized,corrugated sheet iron,arranged 
so that allthe water which falls upon it flowsinto a gutter connected 
with a leader,through which it is carried into the main drain, Dry- 
ness in the storage room being of prime importance, the floor should 
be cemented whenever existing conditions permit. Of course,ample 
provision has to be made for thorough drainage, ventilation and 
circulation of air. Several devices for the accomplishment of this 
have been patented, and an excellent non-patented plan is minutely > 
described and illustrated in Theron L. Hiles’ book on the Ice Crop. 
The general construction of the walls, roof, ventilation, etc., of such 
a storage house does not differ materially from that of ordinary 
ice houses. If the storage house is used much during hot weather, 
the greater part of the ice will probably have melted before the fall 
fruit comesin. It will therefore be necessary to have a reserve ice- 
house near by from which the storage house can be replenished. 
