FRUIT. 



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FRUIT. 



In what to gather. The most convenient 

 baskets for fruit-gathering are peck and 

 half-bushel baskets, with cross-handles. 

 These should be provided with a line and 

 a hook, by means of which they may be 

 hung to the branches of the tree, and thus 

 allow the gatherer the liberty of using both 

 his hands : by the line, the baskets, when 

 full of fruit, can be lowered to be emptied, 

 and drawn up again. 



Gathering Pears. With regard to the 

 choicer sorts of pears, especially those 

 growing on trees against walls, or on dwarf 

 trees, it will well repay the little extra time 

 and trouble it may cause, to gather these 

 by their stalks without touching them with 

 the hand, and to remove them at once to 

 the fruit-room on the trays or in the 

 drawers in which they are to be stored. 



Bloom on Fruit. There is on the skin 

 of all fruit a secretion more or less marked, 

 known commonly by the name of bloom. 

 This, though less conspicuous on apples 

 and pears than on plums and peaches, is 

 nevertheless present, and its use is to pro- 

 tect the skin of the fruit from the ill effects 

 of excessive moisture. While this bloom 

 can be preserved, the fruit will never re- 

 quire wiping, and will retain its full flavour 

 and freshness. 



Season of Fruit -gathering. The season 

 of fruit-gathering must be considered to be 

 the most important in the year. All other 

 seasons are to be regarded as preparatory 

 to this, which is to reward the cultivator 

 for his past care and labour. Five or six 

 weeks in autumn earlier or later according 

 to the season, and according to situation 

 also, are usually given to the gathering, 

 collecting, and storing of the different 

 varieties of apples and pears, which, in our 

 country, are known as autumn fruits. In a 

 commercial point of view, the result of this 

 season has a most important bearing. The 

 difference between a good and bad apple 

 and pear crop is to be measured by many 



thousands of pounds ; and what household 

 is there, whether among rich or poor, which 

 knows not the luxury of an abundant 

 autumn, and the inconvenience to say 

 nothing of the pecuniary loss when some 

 of the many accidents to which our fruit- 

 trees are liable have deprived us of out 

 autumn crops, or left us only a poor and 

 indifferent supply for our winter wants ? 

 In some parts of the country, this loss, when 

 it occurs, falls with far greater severity than 

 in others. 



Fruit, Room for Storing. 



With most persons the fruit-room is the 

 great difficulty in the way of preparation 

 for the keeping of fruit. A loft over the 

 coach-house or stable, a spare room in the 

 gardener's cottage, or what is even more 

 generally the case, a top attic in the dwel- 

 ling-house, is often converted into a fruit- 

 room ; not because it is well adapted for 

 the purpose, but because it is the only place 

 that can be spared. It is for this reason, 

 among others, that it is deemed advisable 

 to enumerate many of the different plans 

 which are made use of for the storing or 

 fruit, so that each one may adopt that which 

 the circumstances of his case admit, rather 

 than to attempt to determine what plan is 

 abstractedly the best. Where, however, no 

 such restrictions exist, and a fruit-room can 

 be constructed and arranged in the manner 

 most likely to accomplish the object desired, 

 the following provisions should be carefully 

 attended to : 



Aspect of. If the place to be built for a 

 fruit-room be above ground, and not a 

 dark, dry, well-aired vault, a north aspect 

 must be selected ; and if the room be on 

 the top storey, the roof of it should slope 

 towards the north. 



Covering. The best possible covering 

 for a fruit-room is thatch ; but if this can- 

 not be managed, or from any cause is 

 deemed objectionable, let the roof be 



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