Gathering and Preserving Fruit. 117 



valuable. In this room Mr. Wilder has kept Beurre Diels up 

 to the 1st of February in fine condition. 



Now that amateur cultivators are beginning to reap the 

 results of their labors in planting trees, the question as re- 

 gards the preservation of the fruit is yearly assuming more 

 importance. When they could gather but three or four 

 dozen of d'Ai'embergs, Glout Morceaus, or Easter Beurres, it 

 was hardly worth the while to try experiments upon their 

 preservation ; but when the dozens are augmented to bushels 

 it then becomes necessary to ascertain how they can best be 

 kept so as to have them in all the freshness of the autumn 

 fruits. 



We commend not only the method of constructing the 

 room, as detailed in the annexed paper, but also the equally 

 important observations on gathering and storing, and the val- 

 nable advice in regard to the drying up of superabundant 

 moisture by means of chloride of calcium : — 



The art of preserving fruit is in intimate connection with 

 its culture, and of no less importance to the consumer than it 

 is to the dealer, who is often liable to considerable loss from 

 the want of a good mode of keeping his stores. To supply 

 this want and to show how the desired object may be at- 

 tained in the most certain and economical way, is the pur- 

 pose of this article. Before entering into the details connect- 

 ed with the arrangements of the house we shall offer a few 

 remarks on gathering fruit ; for, unless fruit is gathered with 

 due care, and at the proper time, its preservation becomes im- 

 possible. With respect to ripeness then, we proceed to re- 

 mark that every kind of ''stone fruit" (cherries excepted) 

 should be gathered three or four days before what is known 

 as perfect maturity has been attained. Pears and apples that 

 ripen in summer and the early part of autumn should be 

 gathered ten or twelve days before they arrive at that stage. 

 The different sorts of fruit when thus gathered, contain all 

 the elements necessary to attain to ripeness, through inde- 

 pendent chemical reaction. The juices of fruits which have 

 been thus detached from the trees are thereby more perfectly 



