134 THINNING, GATHERING, KEEPING, MARKETING. 



or broken stone, and covering this pavement 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 tem- 

 perature. 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 bar- 

 rels, 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 temperature kept cool and even, and few will 

 decay. Those required for consumption through winter are 

 kept best upon shelves. The shelves should be in the mid- 

 dle, 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 apart- 

 ment nine feet high, with a space of two and a half feet be- 

 tween 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 pur- 

 pose. A better and more compact contrivance for keeping 

 pears is a series of drawers, occupying one or both sides of an 

 apartment. Unless the fruit-cellar is a very dry one, these 

 drawers should be in an unfreezing room above. The size of 

 the fruit-cellar may vary with the amount to be kept. If the 

 shelves are five feet wide, and a passage two and a half feet 

 wide extend around them, a width of ten feet would be re- 

 quired for the whole apartment. The room may be of any 

 desired length. A double series of shelves would require a 

 width of seventeen and a half feet. 



