CHAPTER XVII. 



MANAGEMENT OP THE FKUIT-ROOM. 



In vol. i.j section Fbuit-room, we have given 

 examples and thrown out hints as to gathering 

 the fruit, and its disposal for winter keeping. 

 It remains for us now to state the importance 

 of following up the rules therein laid down, and 

 to remind the pomologist that an almost daily 

 examination, particularly during gloomy Novem- 

 ber, is absolutely necessary. This visitation, 

 however, should not be put off, as is too often 

 the case, till some wet day, when nothing ad- 

 vantageous can be done out of doors. During 

 this procrastination the whole contents may be 

 seriously injured. Attend, therefore, assidu- 

 ously to pick out every fruit that shows sym- 

 toms of decay. Exclude light and heat from 

 late-ripening sorts; ventilate to the extent only 

 of drying up superfluous moisture when it indi- 

 cates dampness, for too dry an atmosphere will 

 cause the fruit to shrivel; and take the fruit for 

 use in the rotation of its ripening. Bring for- 

 ward sorts that may be tardy in coming to matu- 

 rity, by placing them in greater warmth, lest 

 a lapse takes place between them and those 

 already in use. 



In the Revue SortkoU, Jan. 1851, the follow- 

 ing conditions are stated to be essential to the 

 keeping of fruit and management of the fruit- 

 room : "1. It must have an equable tempera^ 

 ture. It is more than anything by change of 

 temperature that the fermentation of the juices 

 is occasioned that destroys the fruit. 2. The 

 temperature should range from 46° to 50° Fahr. 

 A more elevated temperature favours fermenta- 

 tion too much, and hastens decay, while a lower 

 degree of heat prevents it entirely ; and thus, as a 

 certain degree of fermentation is necessary to the 

 ripening of the fruit, it will continue in the same 

 state as when gatheredfrom the tree. 3. The fruit- 

 room should be completely inaccessible to light. 

 Light accelerates the maturation of the fruit, by 

 facilitatmg those chemical changes on which it 

 depends. 4. It should be so constructed as to 

 preserve all the carbonic acid generated by the 

 fruit. This gas appears, from the experiments 

 of Couverchel, to tend powerfully to the preser- 

 vation of the fruit. 6. The atmosphere of the 

 room should be rather dry than moist. Humidity 

 is a necessary condition to fermentation ; it 

 diminishes the resistance of the tissues of the 

 fruits, and favours the expansion of their fluids; 

 it is therefore desirable to avoid its excess. But, 



on the other hand, the room should be by no 

 means completely dry ; for the fruit, losing in 

 the meanwhile much aqueous fluid by evapora- 

 tion, becomes too much dried, and will not ripen. 

 6. The fruit should be so arranged as to prevent 

 it as much as possible from being crushed and 

 pressed. In order to realise these conditions, » 

 dry soil must be chosen for building the room ; 

 the site should be a little elevated, having a 

 north exposure and entirely shaded from the sun 

 by a plantation of evergi-eens." From this it 

 would appear that, at a temperature below 46°, 

 fruit would remain in a state of vegetable sus- 

 pension ; and it is probable that from that point 

 to 40° is the minimum temperature at which 

 the house should be kept while the slow and 

 gradual process of ripening is going on. 



The third condition stated above (namely, 

 darkness) has been long acknowledged, but 

 seldom practised. It is of vast importance. 

 The fourth condition (namely, the preservation 

 of the carbonic acid generated by the fruit) is, 

 we confess, new to us, although, on reflection, 

 we have no doubt of the correctness of Couver- 

 chel's theory ; it, however, leads us to the con- 

 clusion, that the less ventilation given the better. 

 We need hardly remark, were it not that there 

 are too many instances to the contrary, that 

 cleanliness in the fruit-room is as essential as 

 freedom from excessive damp and dryness is to 

 the well keeping of fruits. Before the season 

 of fniit-gathering commences, the walls of the 

 fruit-room should be white-washed with hot 

 lime-water; or if of wood, washed with chloride 

 of lime ; the shelving and floor thoroughly 

 scrubbed with soap and water ; and as it has 

 been most happily remarked, by that excellent 

 pomologist, Mr Errington, a liberal expenditure 

 of elbow grease should be applied. We often 

 sprinkle the floor of our fruit-room, which is of 

 wood, with chloride of zinc, the material em- 

 ployed by Sir William Burnett for the preserva- 

 tion of timber, canvass, and a variety of sanitary 

 purposes. As this preparation is known to pre- 

 vent the growth of parasitic fungi on dead vege- 

 table matter, we see no reason why it should 

 not do so on that which has about ceased to 

 exist. Much of the success of keeping fruit 

 depends on the state it was in when taken from 

 the tree. On this subject Mr Thomas Rivers, 

 in reference to pears, which must also hold 



