RIPENING AND PRESERVING FRUITS. 



ceiling should be metallic, so as to enable the caloric to be 

 rapidly abstracted from the space below. The house, 

 patented by Prof. Nyce, is essentially a large refrigerator, 

 with the ice at the top, and provided with absorbents 

 for removing from the air the moisture it has received 

 from the fruit. Its construction will be understood from 

 the accompanying diagrams and description. The letter- 

 ing of similar parts is the same in all three diagrams ; the 

 description is that of the inventor. 



(A) Foundation walls. The ground floor is leveled off, 



and made solid, and even 

 with the foundation walls. 

 (E) A covering of tar and 

 pitch, one-half inch thick, 

 put over the ground and 

 foundation walls, to pre- 

 vent the entrance of mois- 

 ture. The tar and pitch 

 should be mixed so as to 

 be only moderately hard- 

 ened by the temperature 

 of the ground. (D) The 

 filling between the walls 

 is composed of short dry 

 shavings, chaff, or other poor conductors, 3 feet 

 thick, on the bottom and .sides. (C) Joist for plank 

 floor, 3| feet above the ground. The floor is made level 

 throughout. (F) Chloride of calcium, or dried waste-bit- 

 tern, from salt works, spread on every part of the floor of 

 the preserving room, to absorb moisture. (II} Air-tight 

 casings, made of common sheet-iron, No. 26 ; the edges 



Fig-. 27. NYCE'S FRUIT PRESERVING 



HOUSE. (CROSS SECTION.) 



