KEEPING FRUITS AND VEGETABLES 147 



or three feet of straw, hay, or chaff to preserve an equable temperature. 

 They must not be handled while frozen, and they must thaw out very 

 gradually in the spring. This method of keeping onions is reliable 

 only when the weather is cold and tolerably uniform, and it is little 

 employed. 



Orange. 



Aside from the customary wrapping of oranges in tissue paper and 

 packing them in boxes, burying in dry sand is sometimes practiced. 

 The fruit is first wrapped in tissue paper, and it should be buried in 

 such manner that the fruit shall not be more than three tiers deep. 



Pears. 



Pears should be picked several days or even two weeks before they 

 are ripe, and then placed in a dry and well-ventilated room, as a 

 chamber. Make very shallow piles, or, better, place on trays. They 

 will then ripen up well. The fruits are picked when full grown but 

 not ripe, and when the stem separates readily from the fruit-spur if 

 the pear is lifted up. All pears are better for being prematurely picked 

 in this way. Winter pears are stored in the same manner as winter 

 apples. 



Quinces are kept in the same way as winter apples and winter pears. 

 Some varieties, particularly the Champion, may be kept until after 

 New Year's in a good cellar. 



Roots of all sorts, as beets, carrots, salsify, parsnips, can be kept from 

 wilting by packing them in damp sphagnum moss, like that used by 

 nurserymen. They may also be packed in sand. It is an erroneous 

 notion that parsnips and salsify are not good until after they are frozen. 



Squashes should be stored in a dry room in which the temperature 

 is uniform and about 50°. Growers for market usually build squash 

 houses or rooms and heat them. Great care should be taken not to 

 bruise any squashes which are to be stored. Squashes procured from 

 the market have usually been too roughly handled to be reliable for 

 storing. 



