760 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



Fruit Booms. A fruit room constructed in connection with an ice house, so as to 

 be kept cool by means of the latter, is an excellent place for the storage of fruit. The best 

 we have seen of this kind was constructed inside a large ice house, so arranged that ice was 

 stored on the sides and overhead, while ample means were provided for drainage below by 

 the use of pipes underneath the floor, and a condensing tube inside the fruit room. By this 

 method the temperature could be kept at all seasons just above the freezing point. 



Preserving fruit on a large scale in this manner would of course involve considerable 

 expense and care, which would be beyond the means of most farmers and fruit growers. 

 Mr. R. H. Haines, whose opinion on subjects pertaining to fruit we have had previous 

 occasion to quote, gives the following directions respecting the construction of an inexpensive 

 fruit house: &quot; If under the house, it is well to have the ceiling plastered to prevent unhealthy 

 effects from decaying fruit. If under the barn or stables, or in them, then all unpleasant 

 odors should be kept away from the fruit. They should always be arranged so as to let in 

 cool air when desired . If convenient, it is better to have apples kept in a separate apartment, 

 but not necessary. Sometimes a small building can be cheaply made into fruit rooms, by 

 filling in the siding with sawdust, or spent tan-bark. If erecting a building on purpose, then 

 the walls and ceiling should be double, using tongued and grooved boards inside and out, and 

 filling in with six inches in width of sawdust, etc. If good drainage can be obtained, it is 

 better to heap up the earth high around the outside. The floor may be either of boards, 

 gravel, or cement. The building should have double windows and doors, so as to be kept 

 warm in winter, and cool in summer. 



Another method is to have the fruit house in the side of a hill, making the walls of brick 

 or stone, and having a double roof, packed between with one or two feet of salt hay or saw 

 dust. It is well to have the roof reach pretty near the ground. Even a small house, ten or 

 twelve feet square inside, and eight feet high, will hold a large amount of fruit, and when 

 kept cool inside will keep early apples or pears until winter, and winter apples for a year or 

 more. When properly made and regulated, a fruit house will add greatly to the enjoyment 

 to be obtained from fruits.&quot; 



Drying Fruit. In fruit growing sections, it has long been the custom to dry a 

 portion of the fruit product in order to preserve it from decay for future use. Thus apples, 

 peaches, pears, currants, berries of various kinds, etc., have been dried and preserved for 

 almost any desired length of time; but the old-fashioned method of drying possessed many 

 objections, since it involved a vast amount of labor, and too frequently the quality and flavor 

 of the fruit was greatly injured by the process, which sometimes required several days to 

 complete. 



The net-work of suspended apple and pumpkin that slowly dried in the unwholesome 

 drafts of our ancestors chimneys, or the compound of decomposed fruit, insects, and dust, that 

 after a fortnight s exposure to the sun, rain, and dew on the roof or fence, or the rattling, 

 partially charred product of the oven which represented American dried fruits, are fast being 

 abandoned, and no longer furnish our markets as the representatives of our fruit-drying 

 industry. A better method has been devised, which is destined to supersede the former, 

 since it preserves the flavor of the fruit without impairing its quality, while the drying pro 

 cess requires but a very short time. 



This process is by evaporating the moisture of the fruit quickly by currents of dry, hot air, 

 without cooking it in the least, or changing its flavor; thus apples, peaches, pears, plums, 

 cherries, berries, etc., when dried in this manner and afterwards soaked in water to regain 

 their former plumpness, when cooked, can scarcely be distinguished (if distinguished at all) from 

 the food manufactured from fresh, ripe fruit. Numerous fruit-evaporating machines are in 

 use, which have not only greatly lessened the labor and improved the quality of dried fruits, 



