24 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jak 



We, who have made "Indian hills" on the At- 

 lantic shores long before the world beyond the 

 Mississippi was scarcely dreamed of, shall have to 

 be on the alert or our younger brethren will be 

 treading on our heels. 



For the New England Farmer. 



GA?'HERING AND PRESERVING WIN- 

 TER FRUIT. 



BY WM. F. BASSETT. 



Mr. Brown : — The preservation of fruit depends 

 much upon the location and the season. In this 

 section apples probably ripen nearly or quite two 

 weeks later than on similar soils and exposures in 

 the vicinity of Boston, an^ in different portions of 

 this country there is even more variation caused 

 by the nature of the soil and exposure to sun or 

 wind. 



The difference of seasons from one extreme to 

 the other, would, I think, vary the time of ripen- 

 ing from two to three weeks more, thus making 

 five or six weeks difference in the maturity of fruit 

 between a cold season in a late section, and a 

 warm season in a warm section of the State, and 

 I think, there should be nearly an equal variation 

 in the time of gathering ; on this point, however, 

 there seems to be some diversity of opinion. Down- 

 ing savs the practice is to let winter fruit remain 

 on the trees as late as possible, or until there is 

 danger from frost. Others say pick it before fully 

 ripened and let it wilt. I should dissent from both 

 these methods as going to extremes ; the first, as 

 injuring the keeping, and in some cases the quality 

 of the fruit, and the last as materially deteriorat- 

 ing the quality, without much advantage in the 

 preservation. 



So far as my experience goes, both the keeping 

 and eating qualities of the winter apples, in gene- 

 ral cultivation here, are much the best when the 

 fruit is picked just late enough to allow it to mel- 

 low without any appearance of wilting. 



The Rhode Island Greening, if suffered to re- 

 main on the trees beyond that time, frequently be- 

 comes mealy and cracks open at the season when 

 it is generally fit for use, and the Baldwin is lia- 

 ble to lose its taste much sooner than it other- 

 wise would. 



As to the particular time of the year to com- 

 mence picking, so much depends upon ihe circum- 

 stances named in the first part of this article, that 

 no particular directions can be given, but it must 

 be left to the judgment and experience of the 

 cultivator. 



If these opinions are correct, any particular 

 variety will of course keep best in that locality 

 where the season is just long enough to ripen it ; 

 and where the climate is too mild, it will succeed 

 best in the shortest summers. 



Several years observation, however, have con- 

 vinced me that after the fruit has once commenced 

 growing, its forwardness is much less affected by 

 temperature than is that of most other kinds of 

 vegetation, and that its time of maturity depends 

 more upon the time of blossoming than upon the 

 warmth of the weather afterwards. 



With regard to the cellar in which apples are 

 to be kept, 1 do not consider myself very well quali- 

 fied to decide, as my experience on that point has 

 not been sufficiently diversified, but I tliink it de- 



pends much more upon temperature than upon 



moisture. 



Downing says the most favorable soil for a 

 fruit cellar is sand or gravel, with aslope to the 

 north, but I should prefer to have it excavated in 

 what is commonly denominated "hard pan," not 

 hoAvever very wet. The poorest cellars for keep- 

 ing fruit that have come under my observation 

 are warm and wet. 



We had on the 1st of March last, Rhode Is- 

 land Greenings in our cellar in first rate condition, 

 and Baldwins, nearly all of which were as sound as 

 when they were gathered last fall, the cellar in 

 which they are kept being dug in hard pan, and 

 the crevices of the wall filled with mortar ; the sur- 

 face was also more or less frozen nearly half the 

 the winter. 



In looking over an old volume of the Cultivator ^ 

 I see it stated that one extensive fruit-grower has 

 had good success in keeping apples, by putting 

 them in a large heap a little raised from the bot- 

 tom of the cellar, and pouring over them water 

 sufficient to wet the whole, two or three times a 

 week ; but this I think would be no evidence in 

 favor of carrying them into the cellar damp, or 

 having them dampened by moisture arising in the 

 form of vapor from the bottom of the cellar, as the 

 advantage, if any, from the use of water in this 

 case, I should attribute to the washing and the 

 reduction of temperature consequent on evapora- 

 tion. 



I believe it is the practice of many to allow their 

 apples to stand in barrels above ground as long as 

 the weather will admit. 



On this point Cole, in his fruit book, says, where 

 the cellar is cool and airy it is the best course to 

 put them into it immediately after they are picked ; 

 with this I should fully agree. w. f.b. 



AshfieM, 1852. 



Remarks. — It was our intention to publish this 

 article the first of September, but it was overlooked. 

 We perfectly agree with our correspondent that 

 "much more depends on temperature than on 

 moistm'e," whether the cellar keeps fruit well or 

 not. A friend of ours had 60 barrels of the most 

 perfect "Hunt Russets" last March, which were 

 placed in a cool cellar as soon as they were gathered. 

 During the day the doors were kept closed, and at 

 night opened until the weather became so cold as 

 to endanger their freezing. They were then bar- 

 relled, removed to another cellar, where they re- 

 mained till April. This cellar, is wet and the tem- 

 perature so low that water on the bottom froze 

 early in the winter and remained so until spring. 

 He then found the apples, so far as he examined 

 them, in excellent condition. It is, as a general 

 thing, the warmth which occasions rapid decay. 



Stabling Stock. — An exchange says, when fixrni 

 stock is kept in well littered stalls, and every other 

 judicious means taken to manufacture manure, 

 one head will produce sufficient to keep an acre 

 of ground in the highest state of fertility. We 

 know this from experince. 



I^ "Rats is Biz.'" — The price of ladies hid 

 gloves has gone up from 70 to 80 cents per pair i 



