PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 251 



build a fruit house, upon a porous soil, of unburnt brick or clay, 

 the walls a foot thick, and roof the same. Outside of this first 

 building another one is built, so as to inclose the first room with 

 a column of air 14 inches thick. The doors must be fitted very 

 closely, and seldom opened. The fruit is laid upon shelves. 

 Grapes can be kept packed in cotton or soft paper. 



Mr. Fuller. — Columella recommends suspending the bunches 

 by the small end in earthen jars, and filling up with oat chafi". 



The Secretary. — Any condition that will keep vegetable or 

 animal substance in the exact same temperature will preserve it 

 any length of time. 



Mr. Carpenter. — Some of my neighbors find picking apples when 

 perfectly dry, and heading them up at once, and storing them in 

 cellars at once, a good plan. Others think it best to let the bar- 

 rels lie under the trees until very cold weather. The worst plan 

 is to pick apples and barrel them, and let them lay. I would 

 prefer to put them immediately in the cellar. I have found 

 piling apples on straw, in heaps, covered from the sun, some days 

 or weeks before barreling, a good way. So I have to pile the 

 apples on the barn floor. The best five varieties with me for 

 winter apples, are : Rhode Island Greening, Baldwin, Monmouth 

 Pippin, Smith's Cider, and English Russet. 



The Chairman, — It is a great object to get a select variety of 

 fruits, not to embrace too large a number of sorts. I hope we 

 shall soon get a report from the committee appointed sometime 

 ago to make up such a list. 



Dr. Trimble replied that the committee would meet next Monday. 



PEARS. 



A discussion ensued about winter pears. Mr. Fuller thought 

 the Lawrence the best winter pear in America. The Beurre Diel, 

 is a large fine pear, but it ripens before New Year's, and that is 

 too early for a true winter pear. The Vicar of Wakefield, if 

 picked dry and kept in a good fruit room until it turns yellow, 

 and then is finished in a warm room for' about ten days, it is an 

 excellent pear. The tree is very productive, and the fruit could 

 be kept till February. 



Mr. Carpenter. — I picked last year from one tree, only seven 

 years old, a barrel full, and I kept them till April, but they were 

 only fit for cooking. I do not esteem this variety. 



Mr. Fuller stated that he had found them so good that he had 

 sold them in this city to dealers at 25 cents a piece. The Glout 



