HINTS ON KEEPING AND RIPENING FRUIT. 



No subject connected with fruit culture has, of late years, 

 received more attention than the keeping and ripening of 

 the various kinds, more particularly the pear. Years ago, 

 when there were few varieties, in comparison with what we 

 possess now, and when most of the winter sorts were only 

 fit for cooking purposes, they were preserved with scarcely 

 any trouble. But since this delicious fruit has been brought 

 to such a high state of excellence through the active labors 

 of the French and Belgian pomologists, it has been generally 

 supposed that extra care must be taken to keep the choice 

 kinds which they have produced to their period of maturity. 

 Indeed, so much has this subject been discussed and so much 

 has been written on the construction and management of 

 fruit-rooms, that many cultivators have received the impres- 

 sion that so uncertain is the ripening of most of the winter 

 varieties, they dare scarcely attempt their cultivation. 



It cannot be denied that a great deal that has been written 

 upon the subject of ripening pears is of no value whatever, 

 and that their culture has rather been retarded than advanced 

 by it. We confess to having too long been misled by the 

 advice of those whom we thought had experience upon the 

 subject, but which our own experiments have proved to be 

 of little consequence. In fact, like many other departments 

 of horticultural art, that of keeping fruit has been surrounded 

 with so many difficulties, supposed impossible to overcome, 

 that it has been, by general consent, admitted to be a process 

 requiring great skill, long experience and large expense to 

 ripen fruit in its highest perfection. 



We do not intend to deny that some skill is necessary in 

 the successful ripening of the pear. But we do deny that 

 the methods usually laid down are the only correct ones, 

 and that this fruit can be matured only by the routine of 

 practice generally detailed. We mean to assert that the 



VOL. XXII. NO, X. 56 



