436 The Principles of Fruit-growing. 



known as "chill rooms." A room which is well 

 fitted for the keeping of butter in warm weather 

 may also be used to advantage for fruit. In some 

 cases, arrangements can be made for the use of ice 

 to reduce the temperature for the time being. If 

 one has a considerable quantity of fruit, and has a 

 large cellar which is well adapted to the keeping 

 of apples, he can often store his crop to advantage 

 when the price is low in the fall ; but the grower 

 must bear in mind that the risks in the storing 

 of fruit are very great. In the first place, markets 

 may not improve as he thinks they ought ; and, 

 again, the fruit may not keep well. Even when 

 the fruit does keep well, there is frequently a large 

 shrinkage, and the expense of re -packing and han- 

 dling is a large item. The fruit which is designed 

 to be kept for the late winter or spring trade should 

 be carefully sorted when it is put in storage, and 

 especial care should be taken that none of the fruit 

 is over -ripe. (See page 379.) Fruit which is in 

 proper condition for storing when it is picked may 

 be ruined for long -keeping quality by allowing it 

 to' lie in the sun or in a warm place for a day 

 or two. 



Neighborhood or cooperative storage is often 

 practicable, without, however, attempting to establish 

 a true cold-storage business. C. H. Perkins* has 

 presented the advantages of such an enterprise to 

 the fruit-growers of New York, as a means of sav- 



*Cold Storage for Neighborhoods," Proc. 39th Meeting W. N. Y. Hort. 

 Soo., 41 (1894). 



