104 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1904. 



watch the markets for the best time to dispose of his fruits. 

 It also gives a longer time in which to handle the crop. 



The orchardist intending to store his fruit to get the best 

 results, should grow it free from insects and disease; care 

 should be taken to give the fruit plenty of sunshine and air 

 while it is growing, that it may be well colored when picked, 

 as color is of great importance to successful storage of fruits, 

 as that which is of poor color is more subject to scald while 

 in storage than fruit which is well colored. The degree 

 of ripeness at the time of picking is an important factor in 

 storing fruit; it should be well colored, but firm and not over- 

 ripe. 



If there is one thing on which success in storing fruit depends 

 more than upon another that the orchardist has to do with, 

 it is to get the fruit from the trees to the storage within the 

 shortest time possible, for an apple ripens much faster after 

 it is picked, especially if the weather is warm, than when it 

 is hanging on the tree. An apple that has begun to ripen 

 before it is placed in cold storage, will go on ripening, though 

 more slowly than if it had been kept in the ordinary way. 



I am not here as an architect to tell you what is the best 

 way to construct a building for cold storage, but simply to 

 give my experience in building and running the house I have, 

 which was built in 1898. 



The main building is forty-two feet long and thirty-two feet 

 wide outside measurement, with 7-foot posts, with 2-inch by 

 4-inch studding between. The house rests on a stone and brick 

 foundation. On the outside the house is boarded with novelty 

 siding. Building paper was used between the studding ; when it 

 was boarded with matched pine, this was papered, then 2-inch 

 by 4-inch studding, which was again boarded ; the 4-inch space 

 made by this boarding is filled with charcoal dust (using some 

 500 bushels), this boarding is also papered and 2-inch by 4-inch 

 studding again put up and again it is boarded, this gives a 

 wall about 16 inches thick with three 4-inch spaces, the middle 

 one filled with charcoal dust; the outside and inside space are 

 dead air spaces. 



