FRUIT CULTURE. 759 



to dry before being stored for winter use, or packed for market. Even when picked by hand, 

 it should be handled with care, and never be thrown into the basket or sack for receiving it, 

 but carefully laid down, for if dropped only a few inches upon other fruit, it will be more or 

 less bruised. Such bruises may be so slight as to escape notice, but they will be sufficient to 

 cause premature decay. In removing from the sack or basket in which it has been put when 

 picked, the same care should be observed with all fruit that is designed for long keeping, or 

 that may be easily bruised. Never turn it out of a basket or sack into a barrel, for by so 

 doing, each specimen will become more or less injured. It is well to spread apples or winter 

 pears for a few days or weeks in some cool, dry. suitable place, such as the floor of a store 

 room or barn, before they are put away for winter use, since a moisture will gather upon 

 them for several days, which, unless dried off, will cause premature decay. This gathering 

 of moisture is called the &quot; sweating &quot; process. 



An opportunity is thus afforded, also, for carefully selecting and grading the fruit before 

 storing for winter. Unless properly assorted before marketing or storing, imperfect speci 

 mens will be mixed with the sound fruit, and by their decay will soon cause the latter, with 

 which they come in contact, to decay also. In packing fruit, such as apples, pears, or peaches, 

 in crates or barrels for market, the latter should be gently shaken occasionally while being 

 filled, so as to fill up all the vacant spaces possible, and prevent bruising by being shaken 

 about in transportation. When closely packed, so that it cannot move about, fruit may be 

 transported any required distance without injury from bruises. 



Storing Fruit. Before storing, fruit should be properly assorted, and all imperfect 

 specimens separated from those that are fair and sound. The large and small should also be 

 put in separate barrels, whether for storage or market. Care should also be taken that the fruit, 

 before storage, is perfectly dry; since moisture, whether from dew, rain, or the natural sweating 

 process, is not favorable to the keeping qualities of fruits of any kind. Some fruit-growers 

 in packing winter fruit for storage, take especial pains to wipe each specimen with a soft 

 cloth to remove all moisture before putting it in bins or barrels. Others, in storing choice 

 winter fruit, wrap each apple or pear in a piece of paper, that it may not come in contact 

 with others. Some consider a layer of fine cut straw between the layers of apples in barrels 

 or bins, as tending to promote their keeping qualities. Better than either is to arrange fruit, 

 such as winter pears or apples, on the shelves of a fruit room or hanging racks, where they 

 will not come in contact with each other, but be constantly surrounded by a dry, cool atmos 

 phere. Packing in plaster is a very good means of preserving fruit. A recent writer gives 

 the result of his experiments as follows: 



&quot; I have been experimenting the past few years with apples, and find those packed in 

 plaster keep much longer than any other way I have tried. I use flour barrels, and find them 

 preferable to apple barrels, as they are made tighter. I first cover the bottom of the barrel 

 with plaster, then a layer of apples, then cover with plaster, and so on till the barrel is full; 

 then put the head in and drive the hoops tight. The plaster, being of a cold nature, keeps 

 the fruit at an even temperature, and being fine and dry, packs so close as to keep the apples 

 air-tight. I had Northern Spy and Swaar almost as fresh in May as when picked, and found 

 no decayed one, and think they would have kept till early apples were ripe, had we not used 

 them. Shall put up several barrels for next spring and summer use, as I am satisfied that 

 our best varieties, such as Steel s Red Winter, Wagener, and Seek-no-further, will keep sev 

 eral months longer than by putting them up without plaster, and will retain their flavor much 

 better beside.&quot; 



The rule for storing all fruit is to keep it dry and as cool as possible without freezing; 

 also at an even temperature. A damp cellar is a very unsuitable place for fruit; none, how 

 ever good, can long be kept sound in such a place, a cool and dry atmosphere being abso 

 lutely essential to its preservation. 



