PACKING, MARKING, SHIPPING, ETC. 473 



fruit-rooia, directly Ijecomes dried to sucli ;i dcgiee that 

 all the moisture on the decaying spots disappears, and the 

 spots themselves become covered with a dried i)L'llicle- 

 like court-plaster, and the rot ceases. The drying process, 

 however, is not such as to produce shriveling in apples or 

 pears, for the reason tliat only the external moisture is 

 removed, and the interior flesh of the fruit remains un- 

 changed. 



" In this connection may be demonstrated the fallacy of 

 the common idea that fruit just gathered from the tree 

 must undergo a process o^ sweating before it is fit to be put 

 into the cellar or fruit-room. The simple truth is, that fruit 

 which has been cooled by any means will always sweat 

 when it is brought into a warm atmosphere, not because 

 the juice passes out of it, but because the moisture in hot 

 air always condenses on a cold surface. On the contrary, 

 fruit taken from the tree, on a warm day, and put imme- 

 diately into a cold fruit-room, never siceafs. The process 

 of sweating in apples and pears may be repeated a hun- 

 dred times by cooling the fruit in a cellar, and then bring- 

 ing them suddenly into a hot room. A cold apple will 

 always sweat in hot air. 



" The ordinary working temperature obtained by means 

 of ice, is about 38° to 40" Fahrenheit. But by the use of 

 suitable apparatus, with salt and crushed ice, as in the ice- 

 cream freezer, a room may be cooled below the freezing 

 point." 



Attention to Fruits in the Cellar or Fruit-room, — The 

 decay of fruits is caused either by bruises or by a fungus, 

 or species of mildew, that increases rapidly and attacks 

 all the sound fruits within its reach. It is, therefore, 

 necessary to examine fruits frequently, and remove all 

 that show any symptoms of decay, before they have 

 either affected others or tainted the atmosphere of the 



