THE EMIGRANT'S HAND-BOOK. 457 



Choice apples and pears are sometimes wrapped singly 

 in paper, and put into glazed jars, with covers. When 

 there is no fruit-room, a cool cellar may be used, or they 

 may be kept in baskets packed in dry straw, and kept in 

 a dry cool room. 



The free access of the atmosphere being one of the 

 circumstances essential to the decomposition of animal 

 and vegetable matter, it is obvious that the exclusion of it 

 must prevent this effect from taking place, and that con- 

 quently, if such substances are completely kept irom the 

 contact of air, they cannot change, or at least in a very 

 inconsiderable degree. At a certain depth below the sur- 

 face of the earth, the temperature does not vary, summer 

 nor winter, and it is never so cold there as to freeze. This 

 fact has been taken advantage of in the preservation of 

 provisons. In many parts of Europe, vegetables, such as 

 potatoes, turnips, carrots, onions, etc., are preserved for 

 one or more years, by burying them in deep pits in a 

 clay soil, which they burn hard before using, or even in 

 a dry sandy soil. Caves form excellent cellars, on ac- 

 count of the equality of their temperature. 



To preserve green gooseberries, currants, or green peas, 

 in this manner, let the fruit be gathered in dry weather, 

 or if not, let them be dried in the sun ; cut them from the 

 stalks with scissors, and take care that they are not in the 

 least wounded, and that no spoiled or bruised ones are 

 mixed with the rest. Drop them gently into dry, wide- 

 mouthed bottles. Cork the bottles and rosin over the corks. 

 Make a trench in the garden at least two or three feet deep, 

 and bury the bottles in it, placing the corks downward, 

 to keep them from the frost. Should the frost in winter 

 be severe, a quantity of litter from the stable should be 

 laid over the place, where they have been put. If the 

 bottles are placed in a very cool cellar, the fruit will 

 keep tolerably well. By plunging the bottles after they 



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