266 THE FRUIT GARDEN 



condition for months. This manner of keeping the apple refers to mid-season 

 and late varieties only. It serves no useful purpose to try and keep early 

 varieties long. With reference to the choicer varieties of apples, such as 

 Cox's Orange Pippin, Ribston Pippin, and others, the best way of preserving 

 them is to w^rap them in paper and place them in a cellar. Stored in this way 

 I have known Blenheim Orange keep in good condition until June. 



The retarding fruit-room proper may be built several ways. I had the 

 privilege of building one at the Royal Gardens, Frogmore, underneath the floor 

 of an existing fruit-room. Ventilation was provided by a shaft at each end, 

 easily regulated, and by double doors, one of open trellis work for the admission 

 of additional air when desired, and an ordinary lock door. In the warmest 

 weather the temperature in this room was from 8 to lo degs. cooler than the 

 ordinary fruit-room above, and I found it invaluable for retarding fruit. A 

 fruit-room of this description may be built underground with an arched roof 

 and covered over with 2 or 3 feet of soil in which shrubs can be planted or 

 grass sown. This is a useful method of making a cool fruit-room without its 

 being an eyesore in a garden where space is limited. It should be high enough 

 for a man to be able to stand upright, and the length and width in proportion 

 to the quantity of fruit to be stored. It must have a sunk doorway at one end 

 and a window at the other opening to an air cavity outside. 



By GEORGE BUNYARD 



I cannot too strongly impress upon all those who wish to keep their fruits 

 firm and fresh for a long time that it is most important for them to be ripe 

 when gathered. They must also be carefullv handled, and finally laid singly 

 upon the shelves without bruising. Fruits should never be wet when stored. 

 Small apples keep better when three or four layers thick. Examine the fruits 

 from time to time, and remove any that are decayed or decaying. Keep the 

 floor of the fruit-room damp continually. Capital storage is ready to hand in the 

 many oast houses which exist in Kent and Sussex, as the hops are generally 

 gone and the oast cleared out before the apples for late keeping are gathered. 

 There is no doubt that these substantial buildings are suitable both on the 

 ground floors and the first floors, but the fruits keep best on the former. 



The usual plan is for women to sort the fruit as it is brought in, and to lay 

 it out carefully on clean straw in heaps of one sort up to 3 feet deep. After 

 these heaps have sweated they are slightly covered to keep off dust, &c., then 

 as frost becomes probable they are covered one foot deep with fresh, clean 

 straw. In these heaps the fruit keeps sound and plump, and they remain there 

 until January or March according to the market price. The varieties now 

 most in favour for late sale are Wellington, Blenheim Orange, Winter Queen- 

 ing, Northern Greening, Deux Ans, Norfolk Beaufin, Cox's Orange Pippin, 

 Golden Knob, and Wyken Pippin, and_ locally Hanwell Sowing, Grange's 

 Pearmain, and Court Pendu Plat. But in a few years there will be a large 

 supply of Tower of Glamis, Newton Wonder, Bismarck, Hambling's Seedling, 

 Royal Jubilee, Lane's Prince Albert, and Bramley's Seedling. Year by year 



