HOW TO KEEP PEAKS. 89 



fully taken out and the chaff exposed on a cold, dry 

 night. Early the next morning the fruit and cold 

 chaff are replaced in the barrel and put away in the 

 cellar until it is time to make use of the pears. The 

 fruit may be kept much later than its proper date of 

 ripening by exposing the chaff three or four times 

 during the winter to a severe frost. 



Buckwheat or rye chaff will answer equally well 

 for this purpose. It is neither necessary nor judi- 

 cious to surround the fruit with cotton, charcoal, 

 sand, or other material. With such treatment pears 

 lose their flavor, and become comparatively valueless ; 

 even unsized or absorbent paper will in a measure 

 have the same injurious effect upon them. 



