ON GATHERING AND STORING FRUIT. 4S9 



1500. With most persons the fruit-room is the great difificulty in the way of 

 preparation for the keeping- of fruit. They cannot follow out the plan which 

 they themsdlvcs think best, because the chamber which they are obliged to 

 make use of for a store-room does not admit of the necessary arrangements 

 being made in it. A loft over the coach-house or stable, a spare room in the 

 gardener's cottage, or what is even more generally the case, a top attic in the 

 dwelling-house, is often converted into a fruit-room ; not because it is well 

 adapted for the purpose, but because it is the only place that can be spared. It 

 was for this reason, among others, that wo deemed it advisable to enumerate 

 many of the different plans which are made use of for the preservation of 

 fniit, so that each one might adopt that which the circumstances of his case 

 admitted, rather than to attempt to determine what plan is abstractedly the 

 best. Where, however, no such restrictions exist, and a fruit-room can be 

 constructed and arranged in the manner most likely to accomplish the object 

 desired, the following provisions should be carefully attended to : — 



1501. If the place to be built for a fruit-room be above ground, and not a 

 dark, dry, well-aired vault, as recommended (1489), a north aspect must be 



elected ; and if the room be on the top story, the roof of it should slope 

 towards the north. The best possible covering for a fruit-room is thatch ; 



.but if this cannot be managed, or from any cause is deemed objectionable, let 

 the roof be double : also, the outer walls of the room should be hollow ; for, 

 with a double roof and hollow walls, the liability to injury from frost will bo 

 considerably diminished. Though the fruit-room should for the most part be 

 kept dark, it is desirable that there should be one or two small windows in it, 



..and some good and simple method of ventilation, so that on dry days, and 

 whenever necessary, the atmosphere may be completely changed. 



1502. This is most important ; for though it is not desirable to admit air 

 unless needed, ventilation must never be neglected when the exhalations from 

 the fruit have in any degree tainted the air of the room. Whenever there is 

 a strong smell in the fruit-room, we may be quite sure that something is 

 wrong. Let us suppose, then, a fruit-room so situated as described, with a 

 north aspect, properly roofed and ventilated, and of convenient dimensions 

 for the size of the garden. We will say, that in shape it is a parallelogram, 

 -with its door or entrance in one of the shorter sides. A very important ques- 

 tion now occurs. How can such a place be best and most conveniently fitted 

 up ? The centre should be occupied by a dresser running lengthways to the 

 extreme end of the room. This will be useful for resting or landing the baskets 



• of fruit, as soon as they are brought in from the orchard or garden. The 

 underneath part of the dresser should be fitted up with drawers on one or 

 both sides, according to the width of it ; and the top provided with a ledge 

 about two inches deep on all sides, to prevent any fruit that may be laid upon 

 it from falling off. The depth of the drawers may vary according to circum- 

 stances, — some may be deep for storing very dry fruit, one upon another, as in 

 Nos. 1486 and 1487 ; others shallow for fruit in single layers, as recommended 

 dn No. 1488. The sides of the room also may be fitted up in the same manner. 



