.42 



GATHERING FRUIT. 



nine feet higli (inside measure). In a room of this size, 8,000 fruit 

 can be conveniently preserved. It is surrounded*' by two walls {fig. 

 24, a and 6). A body of air is interposed between the two walls, 

 at c, and which serves to keep the interior from exterior atmospheric 

 influence. The walls are one foot and a half thick, and are built 

 of wood, clay, and straw, which on account of being bad conductors, 

 are preferable to common masonry. The ground (or floor), both 

 in the interior, and at c, are made of the same material as the 

 walls. The entrance door is at the north side. In the exterior wall is a 

 double door, d, one to open at the outside, and the other in the in- 

 side. The door e, which is a single one, opens direct into the fruit 

 room, and in severe weather, it is filled up with straw. Four wooden 

 shutters, /, two in the interior, and two at the exterior wall, are 

 placed four feet off the ground, and level, for the purpose of clean- 

 ing and airing the fruit room, before fruit is put into it. The ceil- 

 ing is composed of a layer of moss, maintained and covered with 

 laths ; the outside is thatched, projecting beyond the exterior wall. 



In the interior, benches, or shelves, {Jiff. 

 25,) from the bottom up to the ceilings, 

 are placed a foot above one another. To 

 facilitate the inspection of the fruit, the 

 shelves above four feet from the ground 

 are placed at an angle of 45 deg., a, in 

 the form of a stage ; the lower ones are 

 fixed horizontally, b. To ensure the 

 circulation of air between the shelves, 

 they are divided in five parts, and a 

 space of an inch left between each of 

 Fig. 25. Section shown? the arrange- them I thosc in front, c. are provided with 



meat of the Shelves. i i i j rri . /-.i r • j. 



a ledgeboard. i he centre or the truit room 

 is reserved for a table ( fig. 24), of about six feet long by three feet 

 broad, for the purpose of receiving the fruit previously to being ar- 

 ranged upon the shelves. Such, then, is the mode of con.s;tructing a 

 fruit room, by the aid of which we are enabled to furnish the table 

 with an equal quantity of dessert fruit every day throughout the 

 year. When the fruit is brought into the fruit room, they are at 

 first placed upon the central table, which is provided with a quantity 

 of dry moss or cotton ; and after having been sorted, all the bruised 

 ones are removed ; the sound ones are left for three or four dnys, 

 to throw oflT the superabundant moisture ; \^ hen this has been effected, 

 the shelves are covered with a thin layer of perfectly dry moss or 

 cotton. The fruit are wiped with a piece of flannel, and placed one 

 by one upon the shelves, not touching one another. Grapes can, 

 also, be preserved for a length of time in this place, having been 

 gathered as described- above, and taken to the fruit ro(mi. Every 

 branch is examined, and the injured berries cut out carefully with a 



