Xo. 4. STORAGE OF APPLES. 55 



al)ly low point surprisingly earl}' in the season. At the pres- 

 ent time the temperature stands at 3G degrees in our large 

 room, which is a good storage temperature, though of course 

 not as good as 32 degrees ; and it must be remembered that 

 Ave have had relatively little cold weather this season during 

 which the temperature in the room could be lowered. Last 

 winter the temperature in this room on the 10th of January 

 was 32 degrees, and it had only risen to 38 degrees on April 

 1. This is an extremely good record, and while it is not 

 equal to a refrigerated room in which the temperature can 

 be kept at 32 degrees without any variation at all, it cer- 

 tainly docs keep apples well. For good, sound fruit of the 

 late-keeping varieties, like the Baldwin and Spy, I believe 

 that it has a distinct place of its own and a very useful place, 

 and I believe, further, that any farm storage ought to include 

 some rooms which are handled in this way, for it is, of 

 course, much cheaper than refrigerated storage. 



The balance of our rooms are refrigerated w^itli what is 

 known as the '' gravity brine system," a jDatented method of 

 refrigeration. For each room to be refrigerated there is 

 located in the attic, or penthouse, a small vat or bunker lined 

 with galvanized iron, in which is located a coil of pipes 

 filled with a brine made by dissolving calcium chloride in 

 water. This brine is made to test about 25 degrees on the 

 Leaume scale, or about 4 pounds of the calcium chloride to 

 1 gallon of water. This makes a brine which will withstand 

 a temperature of 10 degrees below zero without freezing. 

 This coil of pipes in the vat (known technically as the 

 " primary coil ") is connected by two pipes (a " flow " and a 

 " return ") with a similar coil (known technically as the 

 " secondary coil ") in the room below, which is to be cooled. 

 This secondary coil is hung from the ceiling of the room, 

 either in a single section against one wall, in small rooms, 

 or in several sections distributed through the room, in larger 

 rooms. The flow of the brine in the pipes is controlled 

 by suital)le valves in the rooms to be refrigerated. When it 

 is desired to cool one of the rooms, the connected bunker in 

 the attic is filled with a mixture of broken ice and salt, using 

 a coarse salt with particles the size of the end of one's little 



