382 The Canadian Horticulturist. 



ABOUT FRUIT CELLARS. 



A subscriber writes : I have a fruit cellar under my bank barn size 39x44, about 

 8 feet high with solid clay bottom. What kind of a floor will be best? I use it for 

 nothing but fruit. Will pine planks on sleepers or joists be best for fruit keeping, or a 

 grouting cement floor. If the latter, how made — coarse stone first and gravel and cement, 

 or put the cement directly on the clay bottom ? 



Reply. 



all meams put in a grout floor. Plank would be 

 objectionable on several accounts. They would 

 take up unnecessary room ; would harbor vermin ; 

 would by absorbing moisture generate mold ; would 

 soon decay and through this unfavorably affect the 

 fruit. Put in first a grout made of coarse gravel 

 mixed with one-fourth fine sand. If these can be 

 got from the border of some lake or stream where 

 they have been washed, the better. Mix with i-yth 

 to 1. 6th good water-lime and put on two inches thick 

 at least. Finish with one inch of grout made of a finer gravel and the same of 

 sand mixed with water-lime, one part of lime to two of sand. Put on the clay 

 bottom, if all is hard and firm. If any places are soft, pound in stones for 

 foundation. 



As this cellar is designed for a fruit cellar especially, it may be to the 

 advantage of the proprietor, and also to others who hold their fruit over, if I 

 make some suggestions as to the further equipment of such a cellar ; also as to 

 the best method for handling the fruit in it, as gathered from an extended 

 experience of many years in handling and keeping fruit in a cellar of my own. 

 It has, probably, not occurred to the fruit grower in general that he can, to a 

 large extent at least, take advantage of the same principles which are so success- 

 fully used in the large cold storage establishments in the preservation of his own 

 apple crop. 



It is probable that both the theory and its practical application will be more 

 readily grasped if I simply deseribe my own cellar, with my method of handling 

 the fruit, than by any more extended description. This cellar is under my 

 home dwelling house. It is 26x24 f eet i w ith an L nearly as large. This cellar 

 has an elevation of over two feet. It has six windows of six lights each which 

 are hung on hinges, with shutters on the inside and blinds on the outside. Xot 

 only is the floor cemented, but the whole cellar is lathed and plastered overhead 

 to shut out the heat from the rooms above, and promote an even temperature. 

 The object sought is to give the fruit all possible conditions favorable to its 

 keeping. These are : Dead air, dry air, and as low and equal a temperature 

 as is possible, above freezing. So much for the appointments of the cellar. 

 Now for the handling of the fruit. 



