382 



THE GARDENER'S ASSISTANT. 



must first have good cultivation to ensure due 

 development and maturation; secondly, the 

 fruits must be kept clear of insect or fungus 

 injuries; and thirdly, care must be exercised in 

 gathering and handling them. 



With all the care that can be exercised, much 

 must depend upon seasonal influences as re- 

 gards the length of time fruit will keep. In 

 moist sunless summers, when the fruit develops 

 fast but is not fully matured, difficulty will be 

 experienced in keeping fruits for anything like 

 the usual time. It also happens occasionally 

 that even a brief period of moist dull weather, 

 when a critical stage in the ripening process 

 has been reached, will suffice to cause a special 

 liability to fungus attacks, and the consequent 

 bad- keeping results. Such effects obviously 

 cannot be guarded against, and it is here that 

 a grower for sale must exercise his judgment, 

 for in some seasons it is preferable to clear out 

 his stock at moderate prices, than to attempt 

 to store the fruits in the anticipation of realizing 

 higher rates later on. 



Storage Conditions. — Descriptions and illustra- 

 tions of well-constructed fruit-rooms have al- 

 ready been given in earlier chapters, and it will 

 not be needful to repeat what is there said on 

 this subject. There are, however, many details 

 which require consideration, and with these it 

 is proposed to deal in the following remarks. 

 Wherever large quantities of fruits have to be 

 provided for, a distinct advantage would result 

 from having two or three divisions in the 

 storage. In an ordinary way for home use one 

 department is sufficient, but if the varieties are 

 numerous, and the season during which they 

 should be in use extends over six or eight 

 months, the benefit derivable from the divisions 

 will be apparent. For moderate collections 

 and crops two departments will be enough, but 

 for the largest numbers of varieties and the 

 heaviest crops it is helpful to have three divi- 

 sions. The separating partitions can be formed 

 in a simple manner, so that they are readily 

 removable when necessary. Match-boarding or 

 feather-edge boards are convenient for the pur- 

 pose, and are easily secured or disconnected as 

 desired. 



In the best-designed structures there should 

 be a porch or small entrance space, which 

 could be utilized for many purposes, and it aids 

 materially in the regulation of temperature and 

 moisture in the main space of the storage. 

 This is much more effective than double doors, 

 and very little additional expense need be in- 

 curred; in fact, various existing buildings could 



be adapted in the way indicated without in- 

 curring the expense of fresh structures. 



Stages, Shelves, Trays, and Drawers. — If fixed 

 stages are formed in a fruit-room for the recep- 

 tion of Apples and Pears in bulk they require to 

 be of considerable depth to enable the fruit to 

 be placed in or removed conveniently. Where 

 the stages are 2 or 3 feet wide there must 

 be a space of at least 1 foot between the 

 stages in each tier, and usually it is far 

 better to allow from 18 inches to 2 feet, 

 according to the quantity of fruit to be placed 

 under cover. This should, however, be only 

 a temporary arrangement preparatory to sort- 

 ing and sale, or to a more thorough system 

 of storage. There are many objections to 

 storing fruit in this way even for a short time, 

 not the least of which are the injuries which 

 result from the repeated removals and handling 

 that are unavoidable under the system. Where 

 fixed shelves are employed, that may be allowed 

 less space than the stages referred to, the same 

 difficulty applies, and in addition the fruit can- 

 not be stored or removed so quickly and con- 

 veniently. 



All the advantages are in favour of movable 

 or sliding trays, which are easy of construction, 

 readily adaptable to any size storage or fruit- 

 room, are economical of space, permit the fre- 

 quent and thorough inspection of the fruit, and 

 by avoiding storing in bulk also assist materi- 

 ally in its preservation. These trays should 

 be made as light as is consistent with the 

 requisite strength: the front, back, and sides 

 can be made of laths 2| inches wide by f inch 

 thick, and the bottom can be formed with laths 

 1 inch wide for all the smaller sizes, but for the 

 larger sizes it is preferable to employ the same 



Fig. 1144.— Movable or sliding Fruit-tray. 



kind of lath throughout. Fig. 1144 illustrates 

 a simple method by which these trays can be 

 constructed. The frame-work, A, is a rectangle 

 of laths placed on edge and nailed together at 

 the corners; beneath each side runs a piece ot 

 lath, B, similar to those composing the frame- 

 work, and these serve two purposes, one to act 

 as slides, and the other as supports for the 



