358 GATHERING FRUITS, ETC. 



all separate ; when sound and bruised, early and late, are 

 all thrown together promiscuously, they cannot fail to 

 decay speedily and to lose their flavor ; for two or three 

 decaying apples in a heap or barrel will taint the flavor 

 of all, and hasten the decay of those around them. This 

 arrangement into grades and classes is, therefore, absolute- 

 ly necessary even for the fruits needed for family use ; and 

 when they are so arranged, the sound, long keepers are put 

 into clean, new barrels, carefully by hand, and the barrels 

 headed up tightly and placed in a cool dry cellar or fruit 

 room. The bruised ones can be laid in a place by them- 

 selves for immediate use. Every barrel, when packed, 

 should be marked. 



Winter Pears, as a general thing, require to be brought 

 into a warm temperature one or two weeks before they 

 are wanted for table use. All the baking and stewing, 

 and even many of the table varieties, may be treated 

 exactly like apples. 



Packing Pears for distant marlcets. — ^The French send 

 away more pears to foreign markets than any other peo- 

 ple. Some small importations of their winter sorts have 

 actually been made by some of the Xew York fruit 

 dealers the present winter, 1850-51. They pack them in 

 small boxes, either round or square, such as a man can 

 lift and carry easily in his hands. 



They cover the bottom and sides with very dry moss 

 or soft dry paper, well calculated to absorb moisture. 

 They then wrap each fruit in the dry, soft paper, and lay 

 them in layers, the largest and least mature in the bottom, 

 and fill all the interstices with dry moss or paper. I have 

 seen these boxes opened in London, in the finest con- 

 dition, after being a month packed. They are so tightly 

 packed that the slightest movement cannot take place 

 among them, and yet no one pj-csses upon another. The 



