356 The Canadian Horticulturist. 



NEW PROCESS FOR KEEPING FRUIT FRESH. 



(Extract from Consular Reports, Washington, D. C.) 



HE great difficulty experienced in preserving fruits in their natural 

 state is such that the dealers who make the attempt of furnishing 

 them out of season are compelled, on account of the heavy losses 

 they sustain, to sell their goods at prices which render it impossible 

 for the great majority of families to place fresh fruits on their tables 

 during the winter months. The high prices which fresh fruits 

 command on the city markets increase day by day from the time 

 they are gathered, and have induced orchard and vine owners to run many risks- 

 in order to keep their fruits as long as possible before offering them for sale. 

 And it is not surprising that no pains, efforts, and sacrifices are spared to reach 

 the coveted result, when it is known that during these last years, first-class grapes 

 sold from 2 to 4 francs (38.6 to 77.2 cents) per kilogram (2.2 pounds) from Sep- 

 tember to November, that they were worth 8 francs ($1.53.4), and as much as 

 12 francs ($2.31.6) in February and March, and 14 francs ($2.70) in April and 

 May. 



These exorbitant prices show plainly how imperfect are yet the means em- 

 ployed for keeping fruits fresh, how few must be the successful efforts and how 

 many the difficulties encountered. Ttie solution of this question is, therefore, 

 of great interest to all, and the result of the experiments made in the latter part 

 of the year 1894 and lately reported to the Horticultural Society of Soissons, by 

 Mr. A. Petit, chief of the laboratory of horticultural research at the National 

 Horticultural School of Versailles, deserves the attention and consideration of 

 fruit growers throughout the United States. 



Impressed with the powerful action of alcoholic vapors on the mold which 

 generally appears on the surface of fruits in a damp atmosphere, Mr. Petit noticed 

 that pears and apples kept for several months in a surrounding saturated with 

 vapors of water and alcohol, even were they at the beginning in a state of decay,, 

 showing no signs of mold, while fruits in every particular identically similar to 

 the former, stored under the same conditions, but not exposed to the action of 

 alcoholic vapors, were entirely covered with it. 



Taking advantage of this observation, Mr. Petit applied the principle to the 

 preservation of fruits in general, and most particularly to grapes, because, more 

 than others, the latter are subject to mold. It was to be foreseen that grapes 

 kept, from the day they are cut off the vines, in an atmosphere saturated with 

 vapors of water and alcohol, would, by the retarding of the sweating period, not 

 only remain free from mold, but would even retain their natural aspect. Con- 

 sequently, should tiie temperature be constant and low, the preservation could 

 be maintained long and well. 



