34 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



acids, which it neutralizes and converts into man- 

 ure. On sandy or arenaceous soils, its action is 

 strongly binding ; rendering the texture more 

 compact and compressible, and neutralizing the 

 salts of iron which generally operate as a noxious 

 influence upon both the soil and its produce. 



By the action it has on the vegetable humiis, 

 and other organic substances, it generates soluble 

 compounds, and fructifying gases — carbonic acid, 

 ammonia and other soluble products — all of 

 which assist the vegetable action either by being 

 absorbed by the moisture contained in the soil, 

 and thus entering the circulation through the me- 

 dium of the saj) in conjunction with the humate 

 of lime, and other principles, or by being absorbed 

 by the leaves and stalks in a gaseous or volatilized 

 state. 



It possesses also the power of decomposing al- 

 kaline silicates, with several valuable and highly 

 efficient salts, and by this means of rendering 

 them appropriable by plants, — also of supplying 

 alkalies to the sap, without which, in some quan- 

 tity, the vegetable would cease to grow, and even 

 to survive. 



Again, lime disposes the soil to absorb oxygen 

 from the atmosphere, and by its strong chemical 

 affinities, it effects a variety of useful combinations 

 and decompositions, thus inducing chemical ac- 

 tivity, and the evolution of electricity, one of the 

 most efficient and powerful agents known in na- 

 ture. 



In all composts there should be more or less 

 lime used, according to the character of the soil 

 to which it is to be applied, — but used in a mild 

 form, unless applied to heaps of crude materials. 



KEEPING FKUIT THROUGH WINTER. 



How to ripen fruits, is a branch of pomological 

 knowledge as important as how to grow them ; yet 

 it is one very little understood. It is questionable 

 whether this knowledge can be taught ; for expe- 

 rience shows that no rule is applicable to all vari- 

 eties alike — for some apples and pears are im- 

 proved by being taken off the trees before they 

 are ripe, while other kinds are best when left on 

 the tree as long as possible. 



With regard to applesand pears — kinds of fi'uit 

 most generally understood when we talk about 

 preserving fruits — the fall fruits, for the most part, 

 are best gathered a few days, or, it may be, a week, 

 before they would drop of their own accord from 

 the tree ; while others ripening at the same sea- 

 son are best left on until they will scarcely bear 

 their own weight without falling. The Bartlett 

 pear, for instance, may be gathered at least two 

 weeks before apparently ripe, and will mature 

 well in a cool, shady place, and, to some tastes, be 

 even better for it ; while the Duchess d'Angou- 

 leme is ruined by what, in the same instance, 

 would be called premature gathering. All these 

 nice points have to be practically determined — 

 and the only safe general rule can be given, that 

 when a fruit will part readily from the tree when 



gently lifted ; or, when the seeds inside are of a 

 deep black color, the crop may be gathered and 

 stored away. 



In most cases, by far too many fall-ripening va- 

 rieties of fruit are planted. If the orchard be in- 

 "tended to supply family consumption, the crop 

 will not keep till all is used ; and if for market 

 purposes, many will rot before purchasers are 

 found for them ; or more important duties have 

 to be neglected to give attention to them. Where 

 a great abundance of fall fruit exists, and it is de- 

 sii'able to keep theui as long as possible, they 

 shou4d be gathered before fully ripe, just as the 

 seeds are changing color, and kept in a cool, dark 

 room — one not too dry, however — until they can 

 receive attention. 



This coolness and darkness is moreover the 

 main secret of kee])ing fruit of the winter ripening 

 kinds through to their proper season ; and it is in 

 endeavoring to find the exact conditions, that so 

 many fail. If too dry, they shrivel — if too hot, 

 they prematurely ripen, and are worthless — if too 

 damp, they rot ; and if too cold, they are tasteless 

 and insipid. To just hit the mark is not easy to 

 a beginner, and yet in practice it is found — not so 

 difficult as it appears to be. Some house cellars 

 are so constructed as to be just the suitable thing; 

 but the majority usually border on some one of 

 the exti'emes we have noted. 



Probably the best plan for the apple, whei*e the 

 fruit is perfectly sound, is to carefully hand-pick 

 the fruit, and pack them gently in flour barrels, 

 being careful not to bruise them in the least, eith- 

 er in filling the barrels or in handling them after- 

 wards. In this way they will keep in cool cellars 

 that are tolerably dry, when in the same cellars, 

 they would probably shrivel on open shelves. 

 Where the fruit is subject to the depredations of 

 the apple moth, or to fungoid diseases, this plan 

 is liable to objections, as the injured fruit will de- 

 cay, and is difficult to get at inside the barrels ; 

 and if not taken out in time, a considerable por- 

 tion of the fruit will be destroyed by the heat 

 evolved in putrefaction. The English fruit rooms, 

 which are mostly constructed more with an eye to 

 perfect fruit preserving and ripening, than to econ- 

 omy of arrangement, however, are usually made 

 expressly for fruit, and all gardens of any preten- 

 sions, have the fruit- room as regularly as the tool- 

 shed. They are usually built on the north side of 

 a wall, or other buildings, in order to secure a 

 regular temperature. The walls are thick to en- 

 sure against frost penetrating them, and many of 

 them have a roof of straw thatch which tends still 

 more to keep out frost, and a regular natural tem- 

 peratiwe inside — along all four sides of the build- 

 ing are tiers of shelves, arranged one above anoth- 

 er, like the sleeping-berths of a ship, and on these 

 boards are spread the fruit in thin layers — usually 

 but one course thick. Some of them have venti- 

 lation provided both from below and above ; but 

 those we have seen were not thus arranged, and 

 there were no means of communication with the 

 external air, beyond what the doors and windows 

 afforded. In these rooms, apples and pears- kept 

 perfectly, ripening in succession, according to their 

 season, and some of them keeping tUl apples and 

 pears came again. 



The secret of their success undoubtedly is the 

 keeping up of a natural temperature of between 

 40° and 50°. 



