138 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING 



building would become very satisfactory. In the 

 opinon of tlie present writer the interesting and unique 

 principle of an underground flue for tempering the 

 air would be applicable to the storage of certain veg- 

 etables, such as sweet potatoes, and others requiring a 

 comparatively high temperature. The plan seems to 

 be practicable for securing even temperatures, but 

 hardly adapted to give the low temperatures required 

 in apple storage. If the temperature of the soil at 

 considerable depths is about 50°, as observed from 

 living springs by Professor Alwood, the buried flue 

 ought to give, theoretically, an even temperature 

 approximately the same. This is much too warm for 

 apples and many other fruits. Of course such an 

 underground flue may be used or kept closed, accord- 

 ing as the temperature of the storage room is higher 

 or lower than the observed subterranean temperature. 

 It might, therefore, prove a convenience with any 

 house, and would in no way interfere with the more 

 drastic methods of lowering the temperature of the 

 storage room, which the manager might find it desira- 

 ble to adopt at certain times. 



XII. A NOVA SCOTIA HOUSE 



The following description of a Nova Scotia apple 

 storage house is furnished me by my friend. Professor 

 F. C. Sears, director of the horticultural school at Wolf- 

 ville. He says that apple warehouses are each year 

 becoming more common in the great apple district of 

 Nova Scotia, the Annapolis valley. They are built 

 either by large speculators who deal extensively in 

 apples, by English commission firms for the accommo- 



