THE EARTH'S BOUNTY 



The cellar for storing fruit must be well 

 ventilated and free from damp, though a 

 cement cellar is apt to be too dry, which causes 

 the fruit to shrivel. In such a case stand a 

 tub or couple of pails of water in the cellar, 

 and do not fail to change it once or twice a 

 month. A dry cellar with an earthen floor is 

 usually about right, though if rapid thaws 

 occur during the early winter, such a floor is 

 likely to become very damp ; so watch for such 

 a condition, and immediately put one or two 

 wide, shallow boxes, a third filled with un- 

 slacked lime, into the cellar which will absorb 

 the moisture. Of course no boxes or barrels 

 should ever be placed directly on the floor of 

 any kind of cellar, but always raised about a 

 foot on blocks. Long ago we made a rack, 

 a foot high, of 4 X 4 scantling, to run the full 

 length of the cellar. 



Do not wait until fall or even summer to 

 get your supply of barrels and boxes to pack 

 in, for then everybody is bothering the village 

 store for " empties." Collect what you can, 



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