102 HOME FRUIT GROWER 



"The amount of ventilation necessary will depend upon the 

 size of the pit. Small pits containing but a few bushels of fruit will 

 receive sufficient ventilation if the straw between the fruit and the 

 dirt is allowed to extend through the dirt at the apex of the pile. This 

 should be covered with a board or piece of tin held in place by a stone to 

 protect it from rain. In larger pits ventilation may be secured by 

 placing two or three pieces of rough boards or stakes up through the 

 center of the pile of Apples so that a flue is formed. This flue is capped 

 by a trough formed of two pieces of board nailed together at right 

 angles. 



"Apples keep well in such pits, but it is difficult to get them out 

 in cold weather, so that when a pit is opened it is desirable to remove 

 its entire contents at once." 



Even as a boy I never liked the pit storage method because the 

 fruit always tasted earthy and in Spring had to be used very soon or 

 it would spoil. The former fault I have been told may be prevented 

 by constructing a roof of branches or boards to keep the straw and 

 earth several inches above the fruit so a large air space would be 

 formed. Be that as it may, I prefer other plans. 



For storage in ordinary house cellars, especially ones not as 

 cold as they should be, Apples and Pears are often wrapped in paper. 

 We have had good success with this method. It is not necessary to 

 buy commercial fruit wrappers, handy though these are and even 

 though they usually cost less than 50 cents a thousand sheets. News- 

 paper pages cut in four will do for medium-sized Apples, but for large 

 fruits the sheets should be about a foot square. Each fruit is placed 

 in the center of a sheet and the paper brought around it. Then the 

 fruit is put in a box which for convenience in filling is tilted. The boxes 

 need not be filled as snugly nor as full as for shipment. Those to be 

 kept longest should be covered and placed in the coolest place in 

 the cellar on the floor. Wrapping prevents wilting, reduces changes 

 of temperature, retards ripening, checks the spread of decay and 

 disease and prevents bruising. 



No matter what plan of storage be adopted it will pay to store 

 only the good specimens those not wormy, bruised, decaying (even the 

 least bit) and free from diseases that may spread in storage and ruin 

 the fruit. Better err on the safe side and avoid storing any doubtful 

 specimen, for it is not merely the one specimen that will suffer; all 

 that touch it may become infected and spoiled. 



Grapes may be kept successfully from several weeks to several 

 months, provided the family appetite will let them. It never did when 

 I was a boy, but that was because there was too much boy. When- 

 ever attempts were made the fully ripe clusters were always cut on a 



