FRUIT. 



I9S 



FRUIT-TREES. 



baskets or hampers, and the store-room of 

 an even temperature, it keeps very well in 

 this manner. However, for the reason as- 

 signed above, fern-leaves are preferable to 

 straw. 



5. In boxes or casks, with sawdust. 



6. In boxes or casks, with bran. 



7. In boxes or casks, with wheat -chaff, 

 or with oat-flights. 



Sawdust is decidedly objectionable, even 

 though taken from the hardest and most 

 inodorous wood, for it is almost certain, 

 after long keeping, to become musty and 

 unpleasant ; and so also does bran, which 

 is naturally a fermenting substance, and 

 soon heats if put together in any quantity, 

 especially with fruit among it. In shallow 

 trays, bran will answer for a time very well, 

 but it will require attention. For packing 

 fruit for conveyance, both bran and saw- 

 dust also may be used with good effect. 

 Wheat-chaff, as well as oat-flights, is liable 

 to produce the same mischief. It is quite 

 impossible to be certain that the fruit will 

 not become tainted by means of them, more 

 particularly in closed boxes, and where 

 there is no ventilation. 



8. In boxes, with dry sand between the 

 fruit. 



9. In boxes, with powdered charcoal in 

 the same way. 



By adopting either of these methods, 

 fruit may be preserved for a long period ; 

 but though sand and charcoal are good 

 materials for keeping fruit sound, they are 

 both open to the great objection of making 

 the skin gritty and unpleasant. 



10. In jars, without any material inter- 

 vening between the fruit : the jars, when 

 covered with a piece of slate or tile, to be 

 buried in dry sand of a depth sufficient to 

 exclude all air and to ensure preservation 

 from frost. 



This plan will undoubtedly answer its 

 purpose, as far as preservation is concerned ; 

 but it is attended with much greater trouble 



and inconvenience than most persons would 

 deem desirable. 



11. In deep drawers, one upon another, 

 without any substance between them. 



12. In deep drawers, with sheets of 

 paper or dried fern-leaves placed between 

 the layers of fruit. 



Both these plans are good, and if the 

 fruit be stored sound and dry, there will be 

 little need of any intervening material. 



13. In single layers in shallow trays or 

 drawers, resting upon fern-leaves, and to 

 be covered when necessary with the same. 



This is the plan which may be regarded 

 as being, under ordinary circumstances, the 

 safest and best to be adopted. 



14. In heaps in dark, dry, well-aired 

 vaults. 



In this way both apples and pears, in 

 large quantities, may be well and easily 

 kept ; and if the vaults be thoroughly dry 

 and sufficiently beneath the surface to ex- 

 clude frost, the fruit will require no further 

 protection, and give but little trouble. 



Filberts and walnuts, to be stored foi 

 winter use, should be gathered when full 

 ripe, and on a dry day. The latter must 

 be cleared of their husks. They may then 

 be packed in glazed earthern jars, tied 

 down with coarse brown paper, and kept 

 in a damp cellar. Filberts keep best in 

 this manner without their husks ; but if the 

 husks are to be preserved, the fruit must be 

 left to stand for a night in open baskets, 

 and be well shaken to get rid of earwigs. 

 Many persons shake a little salt over the 

 last layer of nuts before the jars are tied 

 down. 



All drawers, shelves, boxes, or jars con- 

 taining fruit should be labelled every year 

 as soon as the fruit is stored, so that the 

 different sorts may be easily and readily 

 known. 



Fruit-Trees, Dwarf. 



Modern fruit -gardens may be described 



