nOW TO GROW GOOD ORCHARDS. 339 



lor store apples the fruit should he gathered hefore 

 being what is called " dead ripe," that is, when they 

 are quite crisp and juicy; one of the best indications 

 of fitness being a bright light-brown kernel as op- 

 posed to a dull dark-brown. 



The fruit should be kept in a dry room, from 

 which frost is entirely excluded, and where air can 

 freely ventilate whenever required. The best plan is 

 to fit up such a room with shelves made up of laths 

 three inches wide, and placed an inch and a half or 

 two inches apart. 



PLAN OF SHELF FOR KEEPING FRUIT. 



In this way a represents the laths, of which there 

 may be many or few to each shelf according to the 

 breadth required; b, the interspaces. Here, then, 

 the fruit is placed in lines over the interspaces, the 

 object being thus to secure a free passage for the air 

 all around the fruit ; if placed in a single layer, faulty 

 ones can be seen at a glance, and these should be 

 removed as soon as detected. 



If this plan be found too onerous, and fruit must 

 be put together in larger quantity, we would advise 

 that they be so placed as that air can get to them 

 from below. Keeping fruit in heaps in corners, or 

 even spreading them between layers of straw, tends 

 to their destruction rather than preservation. If, 

 then, it be borne in mind that the end to aim at, 

 in order to keep fruit, is that of exposing sound 



