88 GATHERING FRUIT. 



are gathered and permitted to mature their juices in the house. If 

 on raising the fruit level with the foot-stalk it 

 separates, it may be accounted ripe ; or, if one be 

 cut open, and the seeds found well colored brown 

 or blackish, it is time to pull them. Gathering, 

 with " fruit gatherers," is esteemed most perfect, 

 but if we could induce all our orchard farmers 

 to gather by the hand, we should consider we had 

 accomplished very much. Step-ladders, as seen 

 in fig. 23, are used to facilitate the operation. 



The delicate thin-skinned varieties of winter 



apples should be gathered some ten days earlier 



than the thick-skinned varieties, if it is intended 



to have them keep well. 



Of the quality of pears being varied by the process of ripening, 



much has been said, and often with great reason and truth. 



The following description of a fruit room is from a foreign jour- 

 nal, and regarded as valuable. Hon. M. P. Wilder, of Boston, has 

 a house built after this manner, except, that in place of the cavity 

 between the inner and the outer walls, the space is filled with char- 

 coal, as a non-conductor, and deemed an improvement, in that it 

 produces a cooler temperature in Stmimer. 



" Experience has shown that fruit will not keep well on the tree, 

 after the latter has ceased to grow ; nor will its flavor be so good, 

 because the stoppage of vegetation implies a corresponding fall of 

 the temperature; consequently, the elaboration of the fluid in their 

 tissues cannot be eflfected. On the contrary, we commonly see fruit 

 become shriveled and dry, if gathered too soon. Hence, the neces- 

 sity of gathering fruit at two different periods, from one and the 

 same tree. First, from the lower half of the tree, where vegetation 

 ceases first, and eight or ten days later, from the upper half, or ex- 

 tremities of the tree. For this reason, fruits are sooner fit for gath- 

 ering from espalier trees than from standards ; and likewise, sooner 

 from old trees than from young and luxuriant ones. The best guide 

 for ascertaining whether they are fit for gathering, is their easy part- 

 ing from the tree. The ditferent kinds of nuts, walnuts, chestnuts, 

 etc., are better in flavor, and preserve best, if left on the tree until they 

 drop of themselves. Grapes, destined for either immediate consump- 

 tion, or to be preserved, must first have attained complete maturity. 

 The longer grapes are allowed to hang, the more their saccharine 

 properties will be enriched. In localities where grapes ripen in the 

 open air, they should be kept from tho.se ripened in houses or on 

 espaliers. In storing fruit, fine dry weather should be chosen, 

 as then it is charged with less humidity, consequently, in the best 

 condition for being laid on the shelves of the fruit room. The best 

 method of gathering fruit is to pluck it off singly with the hand, care 



