The Canadian Horticulturist. 



23 



A SUCCESSFUL FRUIT-RETARDING HOUSE. 



T the recent meeting of our Association at Orillia, an inquiry was 

 made regarding the advisability of building cold storage warehouses 

 for fruit ; and whether they should be placed in the great market 

 centres, or in the fruit-growing districts. The prevailing opinions 

 seemed to favor the former, but possibly the latter would serve a 

 good purpose if not too expensive. 



The editor of this journal would be glad to receive descriptions 

 and drawings of such buildings as have proved successful in other places, for 

 publication. In the mean time we give place to the following from the pen of 

 Mr. E. G. Fowler, in the American Agriculturist : 



/ " Very much attention has of late years been given to cooling and refriger 

 ating houses, designed to preserve fruit for a time, prolonging its season and 

 avoiding the necessity for marketing 

 it when the market already has a 

 surplus. Quite a large number of 

 these have been built in the Hudson 

 River fruit region, but they have 

 hardly been conspicuous successes. 

 This is not due to any radical defect 

 in the principle upon which they have 

 been constructed, but rather to the ^'^'- '^'^• 



fact that too much has been expected of them. As a rule, they have been 

 especially disastrous with grapes, though in isolated cases they have been suc- 

 cessful with this fruit, prolonging the season and realizing better prices for the 

 grower. Mr. W. D. Barnes and his son and partner, Edwin, Orange County, 



N. Y., are very intelligent and pro- 

 gressive fruit growers. In the fall 

 of 1883 they built a cooling house 

 on what is known as the Gerald 

 plan, which is practically the same 

 as that so generally used by the 

 dressed beef companies all over the 

 country. The building, of which 

 ^^^'- ~^*- we give a diagram, is of brick 18x36 



feet in dimensions. Inside the brick wall is a six-inch air space, then four inches 

 of sawdust, the latter separated from the air space by a board partition, papered 

 on both sides. The entrance (see Fig. 713) is at a, which leads into a hall d, 

 from which we pass through the door c into the refrigerating room d. Figure 

 714 shows the second or ice story. For a hall a is directly over the lower hall. 



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