240 PEINCIPLES OF GAEDENING. [CH. VII. 



that no two apples or pears touch. The sand should 

 be thoroughly dried by fire-heat, and over the upper- 

 most layer of fi-uit the sand should form a covering 

 nine inches deep. 



Putrefaction requires indispensably three contin- 

 gencies, — moisture, warmth, and the presence of 

 atmospheric air, or at least of its oxygen. Now 

 burying in sand excludes all these as much as can be 

 practically effected. The more minutely divided into 

 small portions animal or vegetable juices may be, so 

 much longer are they preserved from putridity, — 

 hence one of the reasons why biniised fi*uit decays 

 more quickly than sound — the membranes of the 

 pulp dividing it into little cells are niptured, and a 

 larger quantity of the juices are together ; but this 

 is only one reason, for bruising allows the air to 

 penetrate, and it deranges that inexplicable vital 

 power which, whilst uninjured, acts so antiseptically 

 in all fruits, seeds, and eggs. Bruises the most 

 slight, therefore, are to be avoided ; and instead of 

 putting fruit in heaps to sweat, as it is ignorantly 

 termed, but in fact to heat, and promote decay, fiiiit 

 should be placed one by one upon a floor covered 

 witli diy sand, and the day follo^ving, if the air be 

 dry, wiped and stored away as before directed. Fruit 

 for storing should not only be gathered during the 

 midday hours of a dry day, but after the occurrence 

 of several such. 



