404 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



diameter, well colored, and having a peculi- 

 arity in the habit of the stem growing- out 

 at right angles to the axis of the fruit. 

 "Another fine French variety, that succeeds 

 well in Canada," said Mr. Robson," is the 

 Duchess Precoce. The tree is an early 

 bearer, and the fruit very fine." We have 

 often noticed this pear as being valuable, 

 especially since Mr. E. C. Beman has grown 

 it with such success at Newcastle. We 

 would suppose that it would be also a good 

 shipper for export. 



DISCARDED VARIETIES. 



ONE of the most important features of 

 our fruit station work is the warning 

 of our fruit growers against planting inferior 

 varieties. Almost every nurseryman's cata- 

 logue is loaded up with a whole list of infer- 

 ior kinds which he carries simply because 

 they are still asked for ; and he will be 

 greatly obliged to us if we can educate the 

 grower to discard them. In our future ex- 

 hibits we intend making a special table of 

 such varieties, so that growers can see at a 

 glance why we have discarded them. An- 

 other feature will be the showing up of var- 

 ieties which are too much boomed. There 

 are always unscrupulous dealers who want 

 to trade upon varieties before their value is 

 known, and we want to test all such fruits, 

 and where they are not superior to varieties 

 in cultivation we want to warn the growers 

 against them. 



COLD STORAGE OF FRUIT. 



THE advantages of this means of retard- 

 ing the ripening of fruit are only be- 

 gining to be appreciated- By it we can 

 reach distant markets in all parts of the 

 world, hitherto quite inaccessible, and what 

 is still more important we can reach our own 

 markets at almost all seasons, with fruits 

 which otherwise must be sold immediately 

 after harvesting. Professors Hutt and Rey- 

 nolds, of the O. A. C, Guelph, have been 

 making some interesting experiments along 



this line, and have reached the following 

 conclusions : 



1. Apples and pears keep best when 

 wrapped singly in paper, and packed in a 

 shallow box not larger than a bushel. They 

 ship best when, in addition, they are packed 

 in layers and excelsior between. 



2. Apples keep better at a temperature of 

 31° than at a higher temperature. Our ex- 

 periments do not show what is the best tem- 

 perature for pears. 



3. Cold storage cannot make bad fruit 

 good ; neither can it keep bad fruit from be- 

 coming worse. Only good specimens will 

 keep for any length of time in cold storage, 

 will pay for storage. 



4. For long storage, it pays to select the 

 best fruit and to pack it in the best manner 

 known. The extra labor and the cost of 

 material are more than repaid in the greater 

 quantity and better quality of fruit left at 

 the end of the storage period. 



5. With apples and pears at least, and, it 

 seems likely, for most kinds of fruit, the 

 fruit should be picked and stored in advance 

 of dead ripeness. The maturing process 

 goes on more slowly in cold storage than on 

 the tree or bush. 



6. With the two kinds of fruit tried, ap- 

 ples and pears, the medium sizes of fruit 

 keep longer than the largest, all being per- 

 fect specimens and picked at the same time. 

 It would, therefore, be an advantage, especi- 

 ally with pears and peaches, to pick the 

 larger specimens first, and leave the smaller 

 to mature later. 



7. Fruit, on being removed from cold 

 storage, should be allowed to warm grad- 

 ually, and moisture should not be allowed 

 to deposit upon it. But if the wetting can- 

 not be prevented, then the fruit should be 

 spread out and dried as quickly as possible. 



8. With all kinds of fruit, there is a time 

 limit beyond which it is unprofitable to hold 

 the fruit in cold storage, or anywhere else. 

 That limit, for sound fruit, is dead ripeness. 



