I08 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING 



laws whicli govern llic chiiniie>- draft. The length of 

 the wann-air shaft is therefore of some importance. 

 If the room is more than sixteen feet long there .should 

 be two ventilators ; and, if very long, there should be 

 one for ever}' twelve to sixteen feet of running length. 

 For a room 12 x 12x8 feet the warm-air flue should be 

 about 12 inches square, inside measure, with a length 

 of 6 to 12 feet. It is a very good plan to have a light 

 wire shelf placed inside the warm-air flue and some- 

 where near its middle hight. On this shelf a lighted 

 lamp can be placed when a draft is required and 

 when the difference of temperature outside and inside 

 the house is not sufficient to start a circulation 

 promptly. 



Whatever the arrangement of ventilators, great 

 care and constant attention are required to reduce the 

 temperature by their assistance alone, particularly 

 early in the fall while the days are still warm. The 

 fruit house should be clo.sed up tightly several days or 

 even weeks before the fruit is to be put in. The win- 

 dows should be closely blinded. Then whenever there 

 comes a cool evening the cold air drafts should be 

 opened. If the night promi.ses to be decidedly cool — 

 cooler than the temperature already secured inside the 

 house — the windows and doors may be thrown open. 

 Then windows and doors must be closed early in the 

 morning before the sun shines into the room and 

 warms it all up again. As the temperature rises all 

 the ventilators must be closed to prevent further circu- 

 lation. Thus, by opening the ventilators nights and 

 clo.sing days, the temperature of the .storage room is 

 slowly reduced. When nights begin to be frosty the 



