TOOLS A:N T D STOBISTG-HOOMS 57 



nor below 40 ; the nearer the thermometer can be kept 

 to this the better. 



If a fruit-room have to be built, and expense be no- 

 object, there is great advantage in making it with double 

 walls, leaving a space between the two, which keeps out 

 alike the cold of winter and the heat of summer. There 

 should be a cavity of about three inches ; and there is no 

 better non-conductor of heat than these hollow walls. 

 If the fruit-room be a simple, small building, constructed 

 for the purpose thus with double walls, the same pains 

 must be taken with the roof, as regards the non-con- 

 ducting of heat ; it should be double, or there should be 

 a ceiling, and the space above well and closely packed 

 with trusses of straw. Generally, however, a room in 

 the house, among the offices, or forming a portion of 

 some range of buildings on the premises, will do better, 

 and be more under control than a detached building 

 made on purpose. 



For ventilation there is nothing better than a good 

 full- sized window or windows, according to the size of 

 the room, to reach up to the ceiling, and to open at the 

 top and at the bottom. When abundance of fruit is 

 housed in the autumn, air must be let in and damp 

 let out ; air let iu near the top of the room will create 

 a brisk circulation, and the egress of a volume of air, 

 by opening the window wide, is sometimes necessary to 

 dispel damp. Fruit keeps best if kept pretty nearly in 

 the dark, so that there should be dark blinds wherewith 

 to darken the room, but means of admitting light, with- 

 out cold, to examine, pick out, and arrange the fruit. In 

 severe frost the windows must be matted up to keep 

 it out. 



A fruit-room may generally be kept to a temperature 

 which will preserve fruit for family use throughout the 

 winter. 



A framework like a bottle rack, with the tiers very 

 close together, is good for apples, and, with some reser- 

 vation, for pears too. The cross shelves on which to lay 

 out the fruit may be of the common double laths, which 

 are bought by the bundle; and they need not of necessity 



