138 GROWING FRUIT AND PRUNING TREES [CH. xin. 



Eating Plums. Belgian Purple, Green Gage, Dennis- 

 ton's Superb, Jefferson's, Kirkes' Goes' Golden Drop. 



It may not be out of place here to note that no 

 fruit should be gathered for storing before it has come 

 to maturity in growth and size not necesarily in 

 ripeness. An apple or pear, when fit for gathering, will 

 always leave the tree upon a gentle pressure, the fruit 

 stalk parting from the twig without any signs of 

 violence. They are best gathered on those autumn days 

 when leaves begin to fall. The fading of the leaf and 

 the maturity of the fruit keep pace with each other. 



The storing of apples and pears is a difficulty with 

 many. When late fruit leave the tree easily they 

 should be carefully gathered and handled, each kind 

 kept separately. The best place in which to keep 

 fruit is a cellar or dry room not affected by weather. 

 The Codlins, or other cooking apples likely to shrivel 

 should be laid carefully in small heaps and covered with 

 straw. For the more valuable and choice late apples 

 and pears, the following plan has been recommended : 

 Dry some fine sand, and make it hot, so as to destroy 

 any vegetable matter, then procure some large crocks, 

 throw in some sand when cool alternately with each 

 layer of fruit, filling up the spaces until the vessels are 

 full, then stow them away out of the reach of frost and 

 damp. For the main crop it is enough to lay them 

 on shelves made of thin, unpainted battens, and kept 

 perfectly clean by an annual scrubbing. 



