FRENCH METHOD OF PRESERVING FRUIT, &.C. 



283 



filled to about two-thirds of their hight, leav- 

 ing one-third exposed. I\I. Paquel discusses 

 at some length the various substances gener- 

 ally used to envelop fruits, such as moss, cot- 

 ton, paper, &c., and iinally gives the prefer- 

 ence to the mixture mentioned, objecting to- 

 tally to wrapping each iu papei'. 



m 



FORM OF THE BOXES. 



Previous, however, to depositing in the 

 fruit- house, many precautions should be taken ; 

 the fruit should be gathered with the greatest 

 care — the slightest bruise or pinch would be 

 fatal ; the fairest and finest specimens must 

 be selected. It should be gathered about ten 

 days before it is ripe, but must have attained 

 its full size ; after gathering, should be left ui 

 an open, airy situation for about fifteen days, 

 to sweat, and on no account be wiped — jire- 

 vious to its final deposition in the boxes in the 

 iruit-house. \Vith all this care some will de- 

 cay ; the boxes shoidd, therefore, be occasion- 

 ally looked over, and those shovidng the slight- 

 est symptoms of perishing be immediately 

 removed. 



Mr. Paquet's small publication contains 

 many valuable loints on the jireservation of 



thinks equal to those here ; but he adds : — 

 ' Their Pears are truly magnificent, and their 

 St. Gemiains are even now (April, 1847) in 

 eating ; Fruit, however, in general, is enor- 

 mously dear — I paid yesterday four cents for 

 an ordinary Pear, and a franc, or twenty 

 cents, was the price demanded for one of su- 

 perior size and quality. The mai'kets 

 for Flowers are held here several days 

 in a week, and certainly are extremely 

 beautiiul. I attended, the other day, a 

 magnificent exhibition of Flowei-s and 

 Greenhouse Plants, made for the benefit 

 of the poor. The display was certainly 

 most brilliant.' 



It is presumed that these Transactions 

 may be rendered of equal value to the 

 agriculturist as to the horticulturist ; for 

 the Fruits on which tliey will chiefly 

 treat and ofter infonnation are those the 

 cultivation of which employs a portion, some- 

 times a large portion, of many well-conducted 

 larrns. 



Of the number of ban'els of Apples con- 

 sumed at home, no ap[)roximative calculation 

 can be venltu-ed on. but every one is awai'e 

 that it must be enormous ; and even the ex- 

 port of this fruit is rising into importance as a 

 trade — from Boston alone, m 1845, 10,229 

 bairels, and in 184G, ll,0f)2 barrels, were ex- 

 ported. That the production has not yet over- 

 whelmed the consumption is evident from the 

 fact that prices ralher tend upward than 

 downward, while the supply of the finest 

 sorts by no means equals the demand. How 

 necessary, then, that the public should have 

 some authentic som-ce to look to for infonna- 

 tion respecting the cultivation of these fruits ; 



fruit on the ti'ees : on tlie acceleration and re- j and how imperative on the Massachusett.s 

 tardation of the period of ripening, and on the ! Horticultural Society, under the weight of the 



artificial means of increasing the beauty and 

 coloring of Fruit. 



Our winter ;uid summer climate, however, 

 differs so much from that of Paiis, that judg- 

 ment must guide our operations here ; to fol- 

 low implicitly all his ideas might lead us into 

 error. 



liberal patronage bestowed on it, to become 

 that source. 



The commei'cial value of the Pear, although 

 it has not yet attained the same importance as 

 that of the Apple, has lately received a vast 

 impulse ; nor can there be the least doubt, 

 when our Pear orchards shall have been suf- 



The writer has received a communication I ficiently enlai'ged, and the method of keeping 

 from an American friend in France, who is j this frait have improved, that a great demand 

 enthusiastically devoted to rural pursuits, for export to the West Indies and South 



which .stiites that their Apples ui France are 

 abundant and good, and many kinds keep 

 well, although he has eaten none which he 



America ^vill arise, and a valuable addition to 

 our trade be developed." 



While the caution against difference of climate cannot be too strongly im- 

 pressed, there can yet be no doubt that the cultivation of fruit, as an object of 

 commercial operations, is to form a not unimportant item in our machinery of ex- 

 changes, of all of which tlie land is the basis. The love for fruit, and the hahit 

 of consuming it, is one of those which grows by what it feeds on. When Dr. 

 Underhill commenced the sale of grapes on a small scale, the demand was reluc- 

 tant and limited : now it is not easy to supply it ; and he, too, has had the good 

 sense and feeling to diffuse, all in his power, a knowledge of the means of con- 

 ducting this attractive branch of Horticulture. Less than forty years ago, as we 

 are told by Gen. Dearborn, there was scarcely a nursery in New-England worthy 

 of the name, while now there are many that contain nearly as great a variety of 



