GARDEN STRUCTURES. 



213 



a wine-cellar, but for many years has been used 

 as a fruit-room. In the centre is a broad path- 



way, 



and on each side are shelves, on which the 



Apples and Pears are placed on the bare boards. 

 It is ventilated by only one aperture, 3 feet by 2, 

 in the wall at the north-west end, just under the 

 crown of the arch. This aperture, which has an 

 iron grating, has a shutter with which it is closed 

 in very severe weather. This closing is, how- 

 ever, of rare occurrence, for the shutter has not 

 been used to any extent either this or the past 



winter. The perfect dryness of the cellar is 

 owing to its having a range of packing sheds 

 over it, so that the soil resting on the arch has 

 become in the course of years a mass of earth dry 

 as dust. The temperature of the place is most 

 remarkable for its evenness, ranging from the 

 middle of October till the middle of March from 

 45° to 47°, the former being the rate from the 

 middle of November till the end of February, 

 seldom varying half a degree. This low even 

 temperature, with a supply of fresh air without 



■ Mi'7/0V' 



Fig. 275.— Bunyard's Fruit-room (exterior). 



draughts, seems very favourable to the preser- 

 vation of Apples and Pears; for early autumn 

 Apples, such as the Hawthornden and several 

 others, keep plump and sound till Christmas, 

 and even later. To the feeling my fruit-room 

 is agreeably warm in severe weather in winter, 

 and agreeably cool in hot weather in summer." 



A cheap and effective fruit-room for storing 

 Apples and Pears has been devised by Mr. 

 George Bunyard. A description and figure of 

 it were published in the Journal of the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society (vol. xviii. 145), and the follow- 

 ing particulars, furnished by Mr. Bunyard, were 

 published in the Keio Bulletin in 1895: — 



The fruit-room is 30 feet long by 12 feet 

 wide, is capable of holding 300 bushels of fruits, 

 and costs about £30. 



Foundation. — First level the soil and dig out 

 holes for the corners large enough to admit 

 brick piers 14 by 14 inches, or stones about 

 1 foot square; fix an iron dowel in the centre 



to receive the corner -posts of the structure. 

 Some provision for air, such as air-bricks, or an 

 aperture covered outside and inside with per- 

 forated zinc, should be provided just above the 

 ground -line. If over 20 feet long an extra 

 foundation should be put in at the half-distance. 



Main Posts. — Make these 6 feet long, 6 inches 

 square, and prepare a hole in the foot to receive 

 the dowel mentioned above; this will keep the 

 framework firm. The main ground-plate should 

 be 4J by 3 feet, and the top-plate of the same 

 size; support and steady these in the usual 

 way with quartering 4J by 3 feet, and when 

 fixed, choose a dry day to pitch, tar, or cold 

 creosote the lower plates and all the woodwork 

 2 feet from the ground to protect from damp. 

 The quartering should show an even outside face. 



Outside Covering. — The cheapest material will 

 be f-inch matchboard, and it may as well be 

 fixed on the rafters as well. Pitchboard 4J feet 

 by 1 ; rafters 3 feet by 2. 



