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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



feet command may be had of the temperature. 

 For this purpose it must be constructed so as to 

 admit, or exclude, the external atmosphere, as cir- 

 cumstances shall require. 



A very satisfactory experiment was made many 

 years since at Paris, which is fully described in 

 the Transactions of the Massachusetts Horticul- 

 tural Society. By this method many thousands 

 of pears and apples were preserved until the 

 month of June, and for which the Royal Horticul- 

 tural Society awarded a special medal. The room 

 was constructed with exterior and interior walls, 

 with a space of about three feet between them, 

 or, in fact, a room within a room. 



Thesa fruits were placed in drawers, in single 

 layers, and nearly covered with powdered char- 

 coal and sawdust, care having been taken previ- 

 ously to allow the fruit to pass through what is 

 usually called the sweating process. This is, how- 

 ever, only the deposition of dew or moisture oc- 

 casioned by the cooling off of the fruit to the tem- 

 perature of the room, and during which, if piled 

 iu large heaps, or packed in close boxes, injury 

 is sure to ensue. 



Much attention has been given of late to the 

 construction of fruit rooms, several plans having 

 been recently published, all of Avhich are based on 

 the principles here laid down, viz.: — perfect com- 

 mand of the temperature, and exclusion of moisture. 



An account of one of these rooms with double 

 walls was given in the Revue Horticole. It has 

 since been translated into the Gardener's and Far- 

 mer's Journal, and appears in Hoveifs Magazine of 

 Horticulture for this month. 



This plan differs but little from the one to which 

 I have alluded, except that the walls here are 

 filled in with moss 18 inches thick, and to absorb 

 any excess of moisture, a box of chloride of calci- 

 um is placed on a table in the centre of the room. 

 This we think may be an improvement — for a pro- 

 per hygrometric state of the atmosphere is as ne- 

 cessary to be preserved as the state of the tem- 

 perature. What particular degree of moisture is 

 required to keep fruit from shrivelling, we have 

 not yet ascertained, and we think that probably 

 different fruits, according to the texture of the 

 skin would require different hygrometric states. 



The London Gardener's Chronicle for last Nov. 

 contains drawings and descriptions of a fruit 

 room constructed by a Mr. Moorman on a similar 

 plan, except that his building has single walls 

 with a space of but a few inches between them, 

 and in which he was able to keep the autumnal 

 pears, such as Marie Louise, into winter. Exper- 

 iments are also in progress in this city, by which 

 it is hoped that even the more delicate fruits, such 

 as peaches and plums, may be preserved beyond 

 their usual season, or transported to other coun- 

 tries. 



Time will not permit me to enlarge on this sub- 



ject. I will, therefore, confine my remarks more 

 particularly to my own experience. 



Having found it impossible after a trial of years 

 to maintain an equable temperature in my fruit 

 cellars, I constructed a room in the north part of 

 my barn, over the carriage house. The walls and 

 roof of this apartment are filled in with fine char- 

 coal and sawdust to the thickness of about 4 inch- 

 es. There is only one window, which faces to the 

 north, and this is furnished with double blinds to 

 exclude the light, as well as the external air. The 

 room is arranged with shelves about 4 feet wide, 

 and upon which the fruit is placed in single layers, 

 never allowing one to rest upon the other. 



The fruit being stored, the great object is to 

 maintain a low and uniform temperature, thus 

 holding the ripening process in suspense; for with 

 increased warmth, fermentation would commence, 

 and the fruit mature ; or with too low a temper- 

 ature, it would lose its powers of resuming it. 

 The secret, therefore, is to hold in check this fer- 

 mentation or ripening process, until the fruit is 

 desired for use, and this can only be secured by 

 perfect command of the temperature. From my 

 own experiments I am of opinion that a temperature 

 of about 40 degrees of Farenheit will accomplish 

 this object. In confirmation of this opinion, I have 

 before me a few specimens of Beurre Diel, Vicar of 

 Winkfield, and other pears, some of which usually 

 ripen in October and November, which it will be 

 seen are not yet in eating condition. 



These fruits have had no other care than that of 

 admitting or excluding the external atmosphere to 

 regulate the temperature. They remained on the 

 shelves until after the severe weather of Decem- 

 ber, when they were packed up in boxes with clean 

 rye straw between each layer, stowed away on one 

 side of the room, and covered up with hay. Of 

 the straw I entertain a favorable opinion, contain- 

 ing, as I suppose, sufficient air in its tubes to pre- 

 vent moisture, and having a dry silicious coat, not 

 likely to communicate it to the fruit. 



From my observations, I entertain no doubt 

 but apples and pears may be kept through the 

 winter and most of the spring months in perfection, 

 by the method we have endeavored to describe, 

 viz., a cool, dry room, with non-conducting walls, 

 and the means of regulating the temperature by 

 the admission or exclusion of the external atmos- 

 phere. 



This, it is believed, can be more easily accom- 

 plished with a northern exposure, and better in an 

 upper room than on the ground floor, or in the cel- 

 lar, where the heat is continually rising from the 

 earth. [Another method for the preservation of 

 small quantities, and by which fruit may be kept 

 over to the summer months, is to pack it in a box 

 within a box, and to fill the space between with 

 fine charcoal and ground plaster, or plaster and 

 fine salt ; either of which will answer the purpose, 



