138 THmNmG, GATHERING, KEEPING, MARKETING. 



any time for the removal of decaying specimens, witliout 

 being disturbed from the moment it is placed in the boxes 

 in the orchard until taken out for use. This mode admits the 

 storing of a large amount of fruit within a small space. 



Keeping Grapes. — The great leading requisite for keeping 

 grapes successfully in winter is to have them well ripened, but 

 not over-ripe. When grown on crowded, unpruned, unculti- 

 vated vines, they will be small, acid, and watery, and will 

 quickly shrivel in a dry atmosphere, and mould and decay in 

 a moist one ; and they will soon freeze if the temperature oi 

 the air goes much below the freezing point. But well-grown 

 and well-ripened fruit (resulting from good cultivation and 

 judicious pruning) contains a rich juice, which prevents them 

 from shrivelling or decaying, and freezing, even at low tem- 

 perature. Various modes are recommended for packing away 

 grapes for winter. They all succeed well, if good, well- 

 ripened fruit is taken, as already mentioned, and they are 

 placed in a cool and rather dry apartment where they will not 

 freeze. If packed in boxes, they are less liable to freeze- than 

 when exposed. These boxes should not be of pine, as it im- 

 parts a resinous flavor. They should, of course, be entirely 

 free from moisture when packed away. As a general rule 

 they are ripe enough when fit to eat. It was an old notion to 

 leave them until the stems shrivel, but the practice now is to 

 pick them when the stems are still green. 



" Pick when fully ripe, and on a pleasant day. Let them 

 stand in the grape-house for ten days or two weeks until all 

 moisture is gone, and the stems are perfectly dry. Then 

 pack in a small and shallow box about fourteen by ten and 

 four inches deep, after cutting out all imperfect berries. Pack 

 close and tight, and in the manner that the Hammondsport or 

 Ohio grapes are sent to market, and nail up the boxes. Use 

 no paper whatever. I have Isabellas to-day (March 7th) in 

 fine order, packed this way. They must be kept in a cool and 

 dry place." 



H. G. Warner, of Rochester, who has kept grapes nearly 

 into midsummer, lays down four essential requisites. They 

 must be ripe, clean, dry, and cold. They are packed, in boxes 

 containing iiv6, twelve, and twenty-four pounds. They are 

 placed in a cellar;.under his. barn, where the temperature is 



