88 THE PROPER DATE OF RIPENING. 



the market is overstocked for a few days, and Bart- 

 letts are frequently sold from $6 to $9 per barrel ; al- 

 though two weeks later, the same variety and quality 

 of fruit will bring readily from $16 to $20 per bar- 

 rel. Pear growers with a limited amount of capi- 

 tal can easily construct a room on top or on one side 

 of an ice-house, and keep back a portion of their 

 crop. In this way the fruit will soon repay the out- 

 lay for the room. As to the part intended for family 

 use: when the proper date of ripening occurs, 

 move such as it is desirable to ripen and place them 

 in a warm room. The temperature of this apart- 

 ment may be regulated as desired, the higher the 

 temperature, the sooner will the fruit ripen. With 

 most varieties the slow process gives the best results. 

 In the detention house, as well as in the fruit room 

 or cellar, the light should be entirely excluded from 

 the fruit, for on this precaution depend the color, 

 firmness, and in part the flavor. A friend told me a 

 few days ago, that he has kept his winter varieties 

 with but little trouble in the following manner: 

 The pears are carefully gathered from the trees by 

 hand, placed in baskets, and taken to his cellar. He 

 then packs them in barrels or boxes, with alternate 

 layers of dry oat chaff, until the barrel or box is 

 tilled. The head or cover is put on and left in this 

 way for about three weeks, when the pears are care- 



