120 



Gathering and Preserving Fruit. 



ure.) In a room of this size 8,000 fruit can be conveniently 

 preserved. It is surrounded by two walls, (fig. 6, a and h.) 

 A body of air is interposed between the two walls, at c, and 

 which serves to keep 

 the interior from exte- 

 rior atmospherical in- 

 fluence. The walls are 

 one foot and a half 

 thick, and are built of 

 wood, clay, and straw, 

 which, on account of 

 being bad conductors, 

 are preferable to com- 

 mon masonry. The 



ground (or floor,) both ^^S- ^- Ground Plan of a Fruit Room. 



in the interior and at c, are made of the same material as the 

 walls. The entrance door is at the north side. In the exte- 

 rior wall is a double door, rf, one to open at the outside, and 

 the other in the inside. The door, e, which is a single 

 one, opens direct into the fruit-room, and in severe weather 

 it is filled up with straw. Four wooden shutters, /, two in 

 the interior and two at the exterior wall, are placed four feet 

 ofl" the ground, and level, for the purpose of cleaning and 

 airing the fruiting-room before fruit is put into it. The ceil- 

 ing is composed of a layer of mosS; maintained and covered 

 with laths ; the outside is thatched, projecting beyond the 

 exterior wall. In the interior, benches 

 or shelves, (fig. 7,) from the bottom up 

 to the ceilings, are placed a foot above 

 one another. To facilitate the inspec- 

 tion of the fruit, the slielves above four 

 feet from the ground are placed at an 

 angle of 45 deg., a, in the form of a 

 stage ; the lower ones are fixed horizon- „^ 



,. , . , . ^ Fig.l. Sectinri showiiis; the 



tally, b. 1 O ensure the circulation OI arrangement of the Shelves. 



air between the shelves, they are divided in five parts, and a 

 space of an inch left between each of them ; those in front, 

 c, are provided with a ledgeboard. The centre of the fruit- 



