FROST. 



191 



FRUIT. 



CROWN IMPERIAL. 



Frost, Pruning in Time of. 



No tree or shrub should be pruned or cut 

 in frosty weather, as the frost acts adversely 

 on the freshly made wound. 



Fruit, Appliances for Gathering. 



These are various in form, but the main 

 object in all is the same, namely, to detach 

 from the tree fruit which is out of reach 

 without having recourse to ladders, and, at 

 the same time, to catch it in some recep- 

 tacle attached to the fruit gatherer, or to 

 hold it fast by some contrivance so as to 

 prevent it from falling to the ground when 

 detached, which would only result in 

 bruises and injury. It is manifest that the 

 principle on which all fruit gatherers are 

 constructed involves the use of a long pole 

 with a cap or receptacle of some sort at the 

 end of it. The very simplest mode of 

 gathering fruit otherwise out of reach is to 

 take a long stick with a hook at the end of 

 it and to pull the branches down to such 

 an extent that the fruit may be easily 

 plucked, but this is not practicable in every 



case, and great care must be used in the 

 operation to prevent injury to the branches. 

 The next step in advance is to be found in 

 the simple appliances used by the Spanish 

 fruit growers to gather oranges and by the 

 Swiss to gather apples, pears, walnuts, &c. 

 London describes the first of these as a 

 rod with a cup at one end, from the edge 

 of which projects tongues of metal or plate 

 iron, as shown in Fig. I, these tongues 

 being somewhat sharp at the edges. 

 The cup is thrust upward until the fruit 

 rests in it, and a slight twist is then suffi- 

 cient to detach the fruit, the stalk being 

 caught between the tongues attached to 

 the cup and broken off by pressure. The 

 Swiss fruit gatherer, shown in Fig. 2, con- 

 sists of a pole with a basket attached to it 

 constructed on the same principle and 

 acting in a similar manner, the projections 

 above the horizontal basket work affording 

 the means of breaking the stalk and detach- 

 ing the fruit which remains in the basket. 



Contrivances similar to the above in 

 general construction and purpose have been 

 long used in this country for gathering wall 

 fruit, such as peaches, nectarines, apricots, 

 and plums with as little injury as possible 

 to the bloom that is on them. For the 

 fruit just mentioned a tin funnel is used, 

 which may be held in a ring of metal at 



FIG. I. SPANISH FIG. 2. SWISS FRUIT 

 ORANGE GATHERER. GATHERER. 



the end of a long rod. The funnel is 

 placed under the fruit and the edge brought 

 gently against it in order to detach it. It 

 then drops gently into the funnel and 

 remains there for renewal by the fruit 

 gatherer. This kind of fruit gatherer is 

 shown in Fig 3 ; another of a similar kind is 

 illustrated in Fig. 4, but in thif. ';he edge of 



