642 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



highly flavored. This he thought was on ticcount of the different way they 

 were gathered. They should be entirely free from moisture, and those that 

 are taken from the tree in the early morn should not have any night dew 

 on them, but should be let dry naturally, and very little handled after that. 

 And now as to keeping them during the winter, n so happens that he is 

 possessed of a cellar having peculiar qualities. This cellar is built under 

 ground with the exception of one foot. It is in sandy soil, and has two 

 windows, nine inches wide. There is no ventilation at the bottom, and 

 there is no communication with the outside atmosphere except through 

 these windows and a very narrow inside door. The atmosphere in this 

 cellar is comparatively dry, and is not surcharged with moisture at any 

 time, and the temperature varies but little during the winter and is at an 

 average of forty-two degrees, and even in summer it is very low. He had 

 kept vines in this cellar till July without starting buds; this he attributed 

 to the low, dry atmosphere. In a moist atmosphere it has been found that 

 fruit cannot be kept well, neither does it retain its flavor. But such a cel- 

 lar or room as he described would keep fruit long and well. The apples 

 are sometimes placed directly on the floor, which was raised some eighteen 

 inches from the ground and made it quite dry. In other cases the apples 

 were placed in barrels, which method he found best. He also kept fruit in 

 an ice house, which was ten feet wide and eighteen feet long; it was sur- 

 rounded with ice on three sides, or on two sides and the top. The inside 

 was insulated from the ice by a wall one foot thick, tilled in with charcoal 

 dust, and there was an opening to admit the cold air from the ice. But 

 the objection to this plan was that the atmosphere was at times a little 

 damp. For remedying this they now use lime, and he understood with 

 much success. In France they use chloride of lime; this he thoug-ht de- 

 sirable in all fruit houses. In this country, where we can so easily com- 

 mand almost any temperature, we should have fruit preserved all the year. 

 All that is required is a dry, cool cellar, and apples can be kept there both 

 in form and flavor. He attempted to keep apples in the house when he had 

 more than would fill his cellar, but he found in the house the apples became 

 too dry and became wilted, and the fruit lost that desirable quality that 

 makes them palatable. Fire should never be kept in houses used for 

 storing fruit. He also recommended when taken directly from the tree to 

 be wrapped in paper when the fruit is gathered from the tree at midday, 

 and done up in paper they will preserve with their original aroma, and 

 will be found good to eat at the end of the winter. After trying various 

 methods he found that a dry atmosphere is very desirable, and the plan 

 here described best calculated for general adoption. 



Mr. David Thompson, of Green Island, Albany county, N. Y., exhibited 

 several varieties of grapes produced from seedlings obtained from Prussia 

 some fourteen years ago; one variety was a large white grape, which was 

 very hardy, so much so, that it has ntn'or been laid down during the winter. 

 The vine is some five years old now; the season of ripening is in the mid- 

 dle of September, or about ten days earlier than the Delaware; it has a 

 cotton down on the leaves and very short-jointed, and the leaves very 

 smooth on the bottom side, and holds its leaf well. He never had any of 

 these varieties to " scald." A large sized grape on the table he said were 



