Features of a Storage House. 439 



ground may be made to answer the purpose. A 

 building wholly on the surface, however, is more 

 likely to give variable temperatures than one which is 

 partially under ground. An ordinary house cellar, if 

 it has good ventilation and is not too dry or too 

 warm, may answer very well for the storage of fruit; 

 but it is ordinarily best, both for purposes of storage 

 and for health, that the fruit cellar should be a sepa- 

 rate structure if products are to be stored in any 

 quantity. The requisites of a good storage cellar for 

 fruit are chiefly four : protection from frost ; the 

 ability to secure a uniform or unvarying- temperature 

 of 40 or below ; facilities for ventilation ; and air 

 which is moist enough to prevent evaporation. 



The protection from frost is secured either by 

 sinking the building below the surface of the soil, or 

 by making two to four air spaces in the walls in 

 that portion which stands above the earth. The ven- 

 tilation should include facilities for removing the warm 

 and impure air from somewhere near the top of the 

 structure. Some kind of a shaft or chimney construc- 

 tion, with a valve or shutter which can be opened or 

 closed as necessary, will answer this purpose. In 

 buildings which are above ground, it will be often 

 necessary to provide some means of taking in the 

 cold air near the bottom of the building, especially 

 before the cold weather of winter sets in and after 

 the warm weather of spring begins. Cold air being 

 heavier than warm air, it settles upon the surface of 

 the ground in still nights, and if the floor of the 

 storage structure is two or three feet below the top 



