THE RIPENING AND PRESERVATION OF FRUITS. 219 



improved by a warm and humid air. Some varieties of the pear, 

 ripening with difficulty and formerly esteemed only second rate, 

 are now pronounced of excellent quality because the art of matur- 

 ing them is better understood. Great improvement has been made 

 in the handling, packing, and preservation of fruits, so that they 

 are delivered in perfect condition from distant places, every class 

 of fruit having its suitable style of package. So well is the art of 

 keeping grapes now understood that we have them in our markets, 

 in such fine order as to command from fifteen to twenty cents per 

 pound, until the mouth of May. 



Discussion. 



H. Weld Fuller said that there was considerable range of tem- 

 perature in the houses mentioned ; the essayist had advised forty 

 degrees for pears, but he would like to hear something further in 

 regard to temperature. 



Mr. Wilder replied that his remarks referred principally to 

 pears, and more especially some varieties which, ripening earlv, are 

 more delicate than others, and will not bear so low a temperature. 

 The Bartlett pear may easily be kept for a long time in a cold 

 house, but it loses its flavor after being exposed to a low tempera- 

 ture for two weeks. It is very important that the temperature 

 should be uniform, and so low as to prevent fermentation. He 

 once had a house controlled by ice, and fonnd that forty degrees 

 would hold fermentation in 'check. His cellar sometimes gets 

 below freezing and then he covers with mats, as Ellwanger & Barry 

 do. In reply to a question whether the important point is not 

 that the temperature, whatever it is, must be uniform, he said 

 that it is, but it must be kept within certain limits — not too high 

 or too low. 



David B. Flint said that he once had a crop of very fine Easter 

 Beurre pears which were frozen hard on the tree, but he sprinkled 

 them with water so as to thaw them slowly, after which they hung 

 on the tree for two weeks. They were then wrapped in paper 

 and packed carefully in a box and put on a table in the cellar, and 

 on Christmas Da}^ he went to New York and shut up the house, 

 and the pears were not looked at until he came back on the 9th of 

 May, when he expected to find them rotten, but they were in per- 

 fect condition and fi*iely ripened ; and he distributed them among 



