114 PROFITABLE FRUIT-GROWING. 



to remember that fruit keeps much better in a cool 

 and dark place than in a light and warm one 3 and 

 if the surrounding air is a trifle damp, it is better 

 than if very dry ; but cleanliness and sweetness are 

 indispensable. Fruit absorbs impurities the same 

 as butter does. Two examples will teach a 

 lesson on this point easy to be remembered. A 

 gardener made mushroom beds in the lower bins of 

 a fruit-room, the upper being filled with Apples and 

 Pears, but the effluvium from the manure employed 

 in the mushroom beds was absorbed by the fruit, 

 and this, in consequence, spoiled. A gentleman 

 had a quantity of Apples in a building, into which 

 rats found their way, and for stopping them had 

 tar placed in their runs, with the result that all the 

 fruit was strongly flavoured with tar, and could not 

 be used. Flour barrels are excellent for storing 

 fruit in, but petroleum casks or soap cases would be 

 ruinous. If unblemished Apples are placed in 

 sweet barrels, and these sufficiently covered with 

 straw, or placed anywhere beyond the reach of 

 frost, the fruit will keep as well as in the most 

 elaborate structures. 



Marketing Fruit. It may appear a strange 

 statement to make, but it is true, that in agricul- 

 tural districts less care is exercised in sending Apples 

 to market than potatoes. The latter are sorted, 



