1 1 8 Thinning, Gathering, Keeping, and Marketing. 



The more nearly a fruit-cellar can be made to approach the coTi- 

 dition of Nyce's fruit-room, the more perfectly the fruit will be pre- 

 served. If a house cellar is employed for this purpose, the fruit- 

 room should be entirely separated from the rest by means of a wall 

 for the purpose of excluding air odors, and for more perfectly con- 

 trolling the temperature. On this account a cellar under a grain 

 barn commonly succeeds best, the floor above being double with a 

 space of air between. A cellar that is too moist may be rendered 

 dryer by paving with small or broken stone, and covering this pave- 

 ment with a coating of water-lime cement ; and by building a single 

 brick wall within the common cellar walls, with an interposed space 

 of air. Windows hung on hinges on opposite sides and rolling 

 blinds, will assist in maintaining proper ventilation and temperature. 

 A thermometer should be constantly kept in the apartment, which 

 should be at all times near the freezing point if practicable. If the 

 cellar cannot be kept cool enough in autumn, the fruit may be left 

 till cold weather in open barrels, in a dry barn or shed opening to 

 the north. 



With a few exceptions, winter pears, if well matured, will keep 

 and ripen in such an apartment without difficulty. There are a few 

 sorts, however, which will require some days, in a warmer room, to 

 finish the ripening process. 



Apples may be kept headed in barrels resting on their sides if 

 needed for spring use. If bedded in baked sawdust, or soft chaff 

 (the chaff of timothy is best), moisture will be absorbed, the tem- 

 perature kept cool and even, and few will decay. Those re- 

 quired for consumption through winter, are kept best upon shelves. 

 The shelves should be in the middle, and a passage extend all around, 

 both for ready access and for ventilation. The shelves may be five 

 feet wide, which will enable the attendant to reach the middle from 

 either side without difficulty. There may be three shelves in an 

 apartment nine feet high, with a space of two and a half feet between 

 each, the lower one being within a foot of the floor. A board five 

 inches high should extend around the edge of each shelf. For 

 keeping pears, these shelves should be furnished with lids or covers 

 to exclude the light ; or flat movable boxes with covers may be 

 placed on the shelves for the same purpose. A better and more 



ings. Motion is given to the air among the fruit by fans moved by windmills on the 

 roof. 



Pears and grapes are kept in this house during the fall and winter months ; apples until 

 the months of May and July ; lemons, oranges, and pine-apples through the summer 

 season. 



