THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



107 



which will make the duty from $3.60 to 

 $4 on each crate. 



HOW TO PRESERVE FRUIT FROM 

 DECAY. 



At a meeting of the Montreal Horti- 

 cultural Society, held in February last, 

 Mr. J. Fraser Torrance read a paper, 

 which is published in the Family Her- 

 ald and Weekly Star, in which he gives 

 an account of some very interesting ex- 

 periments in the matter of keeping 

 grapes and apples in a fresh state, by 

 packing them in cases so that they shall 

 be entirely surrounded with infusorial 

 earth. 



We may state, by way of explana- 

 tion, that infusorial earth is composed 

 of an innumerable quantity of very mi- 

 nute shells. A cubic inch will contain 

 more than a million of these tiny shells, 

 and as each of these holds within its 

 cavity a particle of imprisoned air, it 

 follows that a body of this infusorial 

 earth, although not exceeding an inch 

 in thickness, becomes an excellent non- 

 conductor. For this reason it is ex- 

 tensively used as a covering for steam 

 pipes to i)revent the loss of heat. 



Mr. Torrance conceives that the con- 

 ditions essential to the preservation of 

 vegetable substances from decay are the 

 maintenance of an uniform degree both 

 of temperature and moisture ; that it is 

 of quite secondary importance what 

 that degree, either of temperature or 

 moisture may be, so long as it be main- 

 tained without change. 



Acting upon this theory, he has con- 

 structed a double packing case, so made 

 that there shall be a space of not less 

 than one inch between the outer and 

 inner case on all six sides, which space 

 is packed full of infusorial earth. The 

 fruit is tirst wrapped in manilla paper 

 and j)acked in the inner case, the inter- 

 stices between the fruit filled with infu- 

 sorial earth as the packing proceeds. 

 When the case is tilled the surface is 



covered with the earth, so that the lid 

 may close firmly on the contents, suffi- 

 cient to prevent any movement of the 

 fruit in handling the case. This lid is 

 then covered with the earth until the 

 outer case is full, when the lid of that 

 is closod and securely fastened. By this 

 means there can no change take place 

 in the air immediately surrounding the 

 fruit, and consequently there can be no 

 evaporation of its juices; while the tem- 

 perature, by reason of the non-conduct- 

 ing character of the infusorial earth, is 

 also maintained without change. 



Mr. Torrance also states that this 

 earth is absolutely tasteless, and in con- 

 firmation exhibited to the meeting ap- 

 ples that had been packed for four 

 months in direct contact ^\ ith the earth, 

 and yet retained fully their character- 

 istic flavor as when first plucked from 

 the tree. Further than this, Mr. Chas. 

 Gibb, of Abbottsford, Que., had packed 

 some fresh butter directly in this earth 

 for ten days, and on testing it could not 

 detect the slightest change in flavor. 

 About the end of September last Mr. 

 Torrance sent to Mr. and Mrs. Jack, of 

 Chateauguay Basin, some of these pack- 

 ing cases, together with a supply of the 

 earth, in which they packed a variety 

 of grapes, Agawam, Concord, Delaware, 

 Duchess, Eumelan, and Niagara, also 

 some Alexander and Fameuse apples. 

 By chance the cases containing this 

 fruit were left in an open shed until the 

 frost had become so severe that the mer- 

 cury fell to zero, but the fruit was un- 

 injured, and Mr. Torrance exhibited to 

 the meeting some of these grapes and 

 apples in a perfectly sound and fresh 

 condition. 



The size of case recommended by Mr. 

 Torrance is one not exceeding in ca- 

 pacity a bushel and a half, ten of which 

 would be equal to one ton measurement. 

 For small or delicate fruits he substi- 

 tutes four trays for the interior case, 

 placed one above the other, and held 



