THE GENESEE FARMER. 



317 



mon masonry. The walls are pierced with six open- 

 ings — three in the inside and three in the outside 

 walls — the first similar and exactly opposite to the 

 last. The openings for the outside wall are — 



"1. The double door (D) : the outside door opens 

 out; that of the interior inward, and it opens in two 

 parts, like a shutter. When the frosts are severe, the 

 space between the two doors should be filled with 

 Btraw. 



"2. Two windows (B), about 20 inches square, 

 placed on each side and opening at 18 inches from 

 the soil, and closed by a double sash, of which the 

 one opens out and the other in. The space between 

 the two sashes should also be carefully filled with 

 Etraw at the commencement of winter. 



" The inside wall has a door (F) and two windows 

 (0) ; but here the door is simple ; the windows are 

 also closed with two sashes, the outside one sliding in 

 a groove, and the other opening out. 



" As soon as the fruits are collected in the fruit- 

 room, the joints and openings around the windows 

 should be filled with paper, to prevent the air from 

 the space between the walls entering the fruit-room. 

 The four windows are only intended to admit air and 

 light necessary to dry and ventilate the fruit-room 

 before gathering in the fruit. We shall presently see 

 that it is easy to get rid of the interior humidity pro- 

 duced by the presence of fruits, without employing 

 currents of air. 



"The ceiling, sustained by beams, is composed of a 

 l2iyer of moss sustained by laths, and covered above 

 and below with a layer of plaster ; the whole being 

 one foot thick. This mode of construction is neces- 

 sary to exclude the influence of the exterior tem- 

 perature. 



" The roof is thatched a foot thick with straw, and 

 the dormer may be used for storing fodder in ; but 

 the points of union between the dormer and outer 

 wall must be perfectly close. 



"The floor is of oak. The walls, and even the 

 »eiling, should have a covering of boards. These 

 vrecautions serve to maintain an equal temperature, 

 exclude exterior moisture, and to completely sepa- 

 ate the atmosphere of the fruit-room from that 

 Vithout. 



" All the interior walls, from 18 inches of the floor 

 '<o the ceiling, are furnished with board shelves, 2 feet 



wide, placed 10 inches aprrt. To facilitate the ar- 

 rangement of the fruit, the upper shelves (A, fig. 3) 

 are made to slope downward in front at an angle of 

 45 degrees ; and this decreases as they come down, 



until the lower ones within four or five feet of the 

 floor are horizontal. 



"The tables or shelves are all made of narrow 

 strips about 4 inches wide ; and to facflitate the cir- 

 culation of air, about an inch of space is left between 

 each strip. The shelves are fixed to the wall by 

 liraokets, sustained in front by upright posts (D) 

 placed 4J feet from each other. The cross-pieces (E) 

 attached to the uprights, support horizontal laths 

 (F), or oblique ones (G). 



" In the center of the fruit-room we reserve a table 

 (I, fig. 2), G feet long and 2j feet wide, separated from 

 the shelves by a space of 3 feet. This table serves 

 to receive the fruit temporarily, and has a narrow 

 molding round the edge to keep it from faUing off 

 All the shelves have similar borders. 



" Such is the mode of construction we propose for 

 a fruit-room, by the aid of which we can easily obtain 

 many of the results which we have indicated as neces- 

 sary — that is to say, it will enable us to maintain an 

 equal temperature of 45 to 50 deg. Fahrenheit above 

 zero, and that the action of the light is prevented. 

 As for the other necessary conditions, we shall pre- 

 sently point out the means to secure them, la cer- 

 tain circumstances, much of the expense of a con- 

 struction like the above might be avoided. If, for 

 example, there was a subterranean cave or a grotto 

 in a rock, a fruit-room might be established in eithOT 

 place, pronded they be very dry. The interior fitting 

 up would be the same. 



"As the fruits are brought into the fruit-room, 

 they are deposited on the table, which is covered with 

 a thin layer of dry moss. There they are assorted ; 

 each variety is placed separate, and all unsound or 

 bruised specimens are taken out. The sound fi-uita 

 are left on the table two or three days, in order that 

 they may part with some of their moisture. The 

 shelves are then covered with a thin layer of dry moss 

 or cotton, to prevent the fruits from being bruised by 

 their own weight. We then proceed to wipe the 

 fruits lightly with a piece of soft flannel, and arrange 

 them in rows on the shelves, leaving a space of a 

 fourth of an inch between each, and keeping each 

 variety separate, and placing similar varieties next 

 each other. 



"The fruit- room may not only serve for the preser- 

 vation of kernel fruits, but for grapes. The Chasselaa 



Fig. 4. 



varieties in partieular keep well in this way. We pro- 

 ceed with them as foflows : Each bunch is cleared of 

 all decaying or unsound berries, and fixed by i\iQ point 

 on a small wire hook formed like an S (fig. 4). Thug 



