332 WESTERN FRUIT BOOK. 



that various means have been used during the last fifty 

 years, whereby ripe fruits could be preserved from year 

 to 3'ear. Ice has been used in many ways, which, in every 

 case, succeeded in reducing the atmosphere to a proper 

 temperature ; but the great difficulty has been, to get clear 

 of the moisture, and then again to produce a continued 

 sujDply of desicated, or dry, cold atmosphere. 



If fruits are placed in a room containing moist, still air, 

 though it be sufiiciently cold, these fruits will become 

 moldy and musty, and if retained any length of time in 

 this atmosjDhere, decomposition will inevitably take place, 

 and it is evident that this air will become contaminated 

 w^ith such substances as the aqueous vajDor holds in solu- 

 tion ; and when there is no current of fresh air, all sub- 

 stances submerged in such an atmosphere will become 

 enveloped in their own exhalations. Hence, a current of 

 pure, cold, dr^^ air is essential for the preservation of all 

 organic substances, and particularly ripe fruits. In a 

 fruit-room, constructed upon a large scale, Mr. S. has been 

 enabled to preserve quantities of our most tender fruits, 

 during the space of one year, with all their original flavor. 

 The entire process, as patented and put in operation by 

 Mr. Schooley, is fully indorsed by the American Pomo- 

 logical Society, as will be observed by their last Annual 

 Eeport ; and the president, Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, in 

 noticing this valuable invention, in his annual address 

 before the society, says : 



" Having heard of the great success of Mr. Schooley, 

 of Cincinnati, Ohio, in his celebrated discovery for the 

 preservation of meats, I opened a correspondence with 

 him with respect to the application of the same process 

 to the preservation of fruit. He subsequently visited me 

 at Boston, and advised as to the construction of a fruit 

 room upon his principle. This I have found, during the last 

 Winter and the present Summer, to operate in accordance 



