84 FRUIT CULTURE. 



all the requirements are present except fitting up the 

 needful shelves. Where this is impracticable, it is some- 

 times the case that a barn or other farm building may be 

 easily converted into a suitable store by the construction 

 of an inside lining of match-boarding, the intermediate 

 space being filled up with sawdust, straw, or sedge hay. 



Where, however, none of these means exist, a simple 

 store may be made as follows. It is best explained by 

 the illustration (Fig. 18.) Mark out the ground for the 

 building, 10 ft. wide, and length according to requirements. 

 Then excavate the soil to a depth of 18 in. or 2 ft., accoi^d- 

 ing to the means of thorough drainage. Next build a 

 wall 4| in. thick and 4 ft. high from the excavated level 

 on either side, and use the surplus soil to form a solid 

 bank at the outsides to the top of the wall as shown. 

 Then form the roof of rafters, which may be made simply 

 of rough poles, and cover the whole with a thick coat of 

 thatch, at least 15 or 18 in. through, and coming down 

 well over the banks at each side. It then only remains to 

 fit up the inside with four shelves on each side, 3 ft. in 

 width, and leaving 3 ft. for the path. These may be 

 formed of any rough boarding 1 , sawn to about 3 or 4 in. 

 wide, and placed with 1 in. space between each, with a 

 ledge 6 in. high in front to keep the fruit from rolling off. 

 A double door should be fitted at one end, and a double 

 window at the other, which should also have a shutter to 

 exclude the light. Leave the earthen floor, which ensures 

 sufficient moisture to keep the fruit plump. The apples 

 may be placed in layers four or five fruits thick. 



In such a structure, with shelves 3 ft. wide, a bushel of 

 fruit will occupy about 2 ft. length of shelf ; so that a 

 building so constructed, if 100 ft. long, would take 400 

 bushels of apples. 



