November 22, 1864. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



407 



of Polystichum lonchitis, and it has rewarded me beyond 

 my expectation. It has now a crown of healthy fronds 

 covered with fructification, and it has thrown out two young 

 plants at its side : when these are well established I shall 

 try the parent Fern out of doors all the year, covering it 

 with litter during hard frosts. — Filix-Fgsmina. 



THE PEUIT-EOOM. 



It is certainly much to be regretted that although most 

 structures intended for horticultural purposes have received 

 their full share of attention, and the most approved modes 

 of erecting them have been at times ably discussed in this 

 Journal and other gardening works, the fruit-room has 

 scarcely ever received a passing notice. Assuredly this 

 cannot arise from the indifference with which it is regarded, 

 for it is of the utmost possible importance ; but somehow 

 fruit-rooms, generally so called, form such uninviting features 

 in most gardens that they are never visited by fashionable 

 company. That this should be the case is unfortunate ; for 

 a nice collection of Apples and Pears in the month of No- 

 vember is as well worth inspecting as anything the plant- 

 houses contain at that time ; but when a makeshift of a shed, 

 or some hovel no longer of any other use, has to be put in 

 requisition for the purpose of keeping fruits, those having 

 the management of it naturally shrink from inviting any 

 one to see their collection when huddled together in such 

 humble quarters. They nevertheless manage now and then 

 to keep their fruit pretty well in such houses or sheds, and 

 not unfrequently better than is sometimes done in structures 

 of greater pretensions, and we are, therefore, led to inquire 

 if there is not something wrong with the latter, and a care- 

 ful investigation into the matter confirms the suspicion that 

 this is really the case. The subject of keeping winter fruit 

 being so important, let us examine the elements which 

 either lead to success or the contrary. 



When we look into the mode which Nature adopts to 

 insure the reproduction of each species, we find that all seed- 

 vessels or receptacles have a function to perform, and when 

 this is accomplished they perish. Some seeds are scattered 

 abroad by the bursting of the seed-pod, and by a jerk thrown 

 some distance. Others are clothed with down, and dispersed 

 far and wide by the wind. Others depend on their removal 

 being effected either by birds, animals, or some similar 

 agency, and of such, perhaps the Apple and Pear may be 

 accounted examples, while they also exhibit the seed en- 

 closed in a fleshy substance capable of resisting decay for a 

 greater or less period — in the wild ones, certainly until the 

 proper time for depositing the seed in the ground ; and as- 

 suming the fruit to fall where it is grown, the conditions 

 for its keeping are prepared for it by natural means. Dead 

 leaves and herbage form a sort of nest as well as a covering, 

 securing the preservation of the seeds until the appropriate 

 time for their being deposited in the earth. Our object, 

 however, is the preservation of the fruit, and the seed is no 

 further regarded than as being a component part of the fruit ; 

 but as Nature has shown us that a cool and far-from-dry 

 medium serves all the purposes of keeping the fruits spoken 

 of through the inclement part of the winter, we may not be 

 far wrong in copying to a certain extent some of the condi- 

 tions thus laid down. 



It being shown that a cold medium is the best to prevent 

 decay in the fruit now under consideration, the question 

 naturally arises, How is a cool atmosphere to be obtained ? 

 To a certain extent we have but little control over the 

 temperature, for though we might increase that of the at- 

 mosphere of the room, we cannot easily diminish it ; but 

 something may be done in the latter way, or, at all events, 

 the evils of overheating our fruit-rooms may be avoided. 

 To cram a house with Apples and Pears in the warm weather 

 of the early part of September is making it little better than 

 a pest house, especially if there be very little ventilation ; 

 for the quantity of fruit lying in so confined a space en- 

 genders heat, or, what is equally bad, vapours are given out 

 that are anything but favourable to the preservation of the 

 fruit. Yet how common it is to crowd the fruit-room so early 

 in the season. Apples keep falling, and birds and wasps 

 attack the Pears, and, consequently, there appears to be no 

 alternative but covering the shelves with fruit, perhaps 



three or four thick. Ripening takes place with more or 

 less rapidity in consequence of the forcing to which the fruit 

 is subjected, the close stifled state of the room, and the 

 warm condition of the external air hurrying on the ripening, 

 and ultimate decay, of the whole of the fruit there collected. 



Assuming, therefore, the position in which Nature often 

 deposits her fruits to be on the whole favourable to their 

 keeping (and we often see that an Apple which has fallen 

 softly amongst long grass or other herbage exhibits as high 

 a state of preservation when found there in winter as others 

 of its kind when housed in the ordinary way), we are led to 

 consider that plenty of fresh air is by no means unfavourable 

 to the keeping of such fruits. On this account, therefore, 

 our fruit-rooms ought to be well ventilated, and they ought 

 not to be too low, or if from circumstances they must be so, 

 they should be ventilated at top as well as at the sides and 

 ends. The best form for a fruit-room when it stands alone 

 is an ordinary span-roof, of tiles laid on dry — that is, not 

 embedded in mortar in the usual way ; below the rafters 

 the roof may be ceiled halfway up following the inclination 

 of the rafters, with a flat space of some 3 or 4 feet in the 

 centre, in which a latticed ventilator may be fixed, the 

 latticework very open, and extending the whole length of 

 the room. There should be a sort of contrivance for closing 

 the latticework — a board, say on hinges, like a long trap- 

 door. This is better than sliding latticework, as the latter 

 is apt to get out of order, and is not easily moved. The tiles, 

 being open, will allow all vapours that find their way into 

 the apex of the roof to pass through, and the ventilator will 

 only require closing in very severe weather. In dry situa- 

 tions it would also answer as well to have the house partly 

 underground, say 3 feet or so ; this tends to keep the tem- 

 perature more equable, and in the hot dry weather of the 

 dog-days is certainly a relief from the heated air outside. 

 The side and end ventilators may be of glass, not allowing, 

 however, any windows to the south, and for the same reason 

 it would be better if the building were shaded from the mid- 

 day sun in that direction, buildings being better for that 

 purpose than trees. The situation ought also to be uncon- 

 fined, and free from all noxious vapours and damp exhala- 

 tions. The internal fittings might be in the usual way, a 

 series of shelves all round, and a table shelf in the centre, 

 and if the latter had drawers in it so much the better. The 

 shelves ought not to be too close above each other — four or 

 five in a tier is quite plenty — the highest one being at least 

 7 feet from the ground. It is customary to make the shelves 

 partially open, but I am not certain that this is required. 

 One of the best-keeping fruit-rooms I ever had to deal with 

 had slate shelves, close and impervious. Care, however, was 

 required not to allow the fruit to tumble about on a shelf so 

 hard. I am no advocate for straw, or anything of that kind, 

 under the fruit. 



There are many conditions in which fruit has been kept 

 tolerably well, and for a long period. A cool cellar is not by 

 any means a bad place, only the quantity ought not to be 

 large, or ventilation must be obtained ; but the currents of 

 fresh air that are wanted in September, may in a great 

 measure be dispensed with in December, or, at all events, 

 much less will do. A cellar is better than a great many 

 fruit-rooms. I have also retarded some fruit in an ice- 

 house and kept it later there than it would have kept in 

 another place, but the propriety of retarding fruits, except- 

 ing for special purposes, is much questioned; certainly the 

 flavour is deteriorated. I have also seen a quantity of 

 Apples buried in the ground like Potatoes. This was merely 

 for an experiment, and the result was that many of them 

 burst, much the same as a Potato will when boiled with the 

 peeling on. Keeping them in achalk-pit or cave approaches so 

 much to the cellar that it may be classed as the same. Sheds 

 of all kinds are used to store Apples in most places where 

 they are grown abundantly, and in Kent thousands of bushels 

 are kept in heaps on the floor of the hop-drying kilns, which, 

 being lofty and airy, are by no means bad places. The great 

 misfortune is, the fruit is often laid in heaps from 2 to 

 3 feet thick, and a little straw thrown over it in severe 

 weather. Keeping Apples in air-tight boxes or jars has 

 been abandoned of late years, and casks of various kinds 

 are occasionally used, but more frequently for transporting 

 fruit than for storing it away. Although Apples will oc- 

 casionally keep a long time under conditions different from 



