IMPORTANT ITEMS : STORING FRUIT. 113 



is the best guide for the inexperienced cultivator to 

 follow in securing his crops, and he does not then 

 drag the buds for future crops off the trees. 



Fruit should be handled more carefully than eggs, 

 for it is much more liable to injury than they are 

 by rough usage. Throwing tender-fleshed Apples 

 and Pears into baskets, then turning them out 

 carelessly, as if they were so many potatoes for 

 pigs, spoils the samples by bruising. The bruises 

 may not be apparent at the time, but they are there, 

 and will quickly spread to such an extent as to 

 reduce the value of the crop at the least fifty per 

 cent. With a little practice the work can be done 

 about as quickly when done well as when conducted 

 in a thoughtless, slipshod manner. The less fruit 

 is moved about the better, and as far as possible 

 the sorting should be done at the time of gathering, 

 separating the small, specked, and malformed from 

 the large and clear specimens. Thrifty persons 

 offer the best only for sale, keeping the relatively 

 inferior at home, after the manner of our business- 

 like American competitors. 



Storing Fruit. Cottagers and small holders oi 

 land shall not be tantalised with instructions for 

 erecting elaborate fruit-rooms and stores. These 

 are luxuries for the affluent, rather than requisites 

 for the working population. It is only necessary 



