STORING FRUITS. 



387 



attention cannot be kept for at least two 

 months. In the list of latest Pears, i.e. those 

 to come in use from January up to April, there 

 are smaller numbers of varieties to select from, 

 but these include some of the best in British 

 gardens, which are indispensable alike for sale 

 or home use. Amongst these may be named, 

 somewhat in the order of maturation, Winter 

 Nelis, Chaumontel, Beurre d'Aremberg, Glou 

 Morceau, Zephirin Gregoire, Beurre de Jonghe, 

 General Todleben, Beurre Sterckmans, Josephine 

 de Malines, Bergamotte Esperen, Beurre Ranee, 

 Easter Buerre, Nee Plus Meuris, Passe Cra- 

 sanne, Nouvelle Fulvie, and Olivier de Serres. 

 In all storing arrangements Pears require even 

 more care than Apples to allow them to mature 

 as slowly as possible, as if unduly exposed they 

 either ripen and decay with great rapidity, or, 

 what is equally bad, and more common with 

 the later varieties, they shrivel, and are then 

 practically useless for table or sale. 



Soft Fruits. — These are much more fitted for 

 cold storage than the ordinary system of keep- 

 ing fruits, but where an effort is made to pre- 

 serve them for a short time in a fresh state in 

 a room of the usual type, the slate or metal 

 shelves previously advised will be found an 

 advantage. The chief points are to provide as 

 low a temperature as possible, exclude light, 

 and keep the store-room closed throughout the 

 day; if it is opened at all it should only be at 

 night, when the air is cool. 



Raspberries, Strawberries, Red Currants, and 

 Gooseberries may be so kept for a few days, 

 although it is always better to prolong the 

 supplies by growing varieties which ripen later. 

 Red and Black Currants can be best kept on 

 the bushes if these are in a shaded position. 

 Plums can be stored for a week or tw^o in a 

 well-constructed place, and some of the best- 

 quality dessert varieties, if not dead-ripe when 

 gathered, become very rich when carefully stored 

 for a period. Later varieties of the Monarch 

 type can also be kept in good condition for a 

 week or two. 



Grapes. — Some of the leading growers of 

 Grapes for market prefer to keep late crops of 

 fruit on the vines as long as possible without 

 attempting any storing, and the results are 

 satisfactory where large houses are devoted to 

 one variety. It often happens in gardens, how- 

 ever, that several sorts are grown together, or 

 that the vineries have to be utilized for the 

 accommodation of other plants, when systematic 

 storing becomes a necessity. For small estab- 

 lishments it is hardly possible to provide a 



special storage for this fruit, but where vines 

 are extensively grown a well-designed Grape- 

 room repays for the trouble and expense. In 

 France this has been carried out on a large 

 scale, and at Thomery enormous quantities of 

 Grapes have been so preserved. Mr. W. 

 Robinson relates that when this method was 

 introduced to the Thomery vine-growers it re- 

 sulted in an annual gain to the village of from 

 £4000 to £6000. 



In Britain the Grape-room is a frequent and 

 an indispensable adjunct to the fruit-room. 

 In gardens where these fruits are in demand it 

 is not unusual to find excellent accommodation 

 provided in this way for large crops. Most of 

 the conditions requisite in an ordinary fruit- 

 room are applicable to Grapes, namely, they 

 must be kept in the dark, and a temperature of 

 from 40° to 45° is needed, but the air should be 

 kept much drier than is desirable for Apples or 

 Pears, and it is this which renders it important 

 to have a separate department for Grapes. The 

 walls should be fitted with racks projecting 

 from the wall, with apertures and rests to hold 

 bottles in a slanting position, the neck directed 

 upwards and outwards, so that the Grapes may 

 hang quite clear of the rack. The bunches 

 must be well ripened and coloured, any damaged 

 or decaying berries should be removed, and the 

 Grapes must be cut with a sufficiently long piece 

 of the wood attached to place in the bottles 

 and reach nearly to the bottom. Clear water 

 should be used (preferably that which has been 

 boiled first), and a small piece of charcoal placed 

 in will aid in keeping the water fresh. It is 

 important that the water be changed occasion- 

 ally, neglect of this seriously affecting the 

 quality of the fruit. 



The varieties best adapted for storing in this 

 way are the thick-skinned late Grapes, but it is 

 possible with due attention to keep Black Ham- 

 burg in good condition for several months. 

 Alicante is well adapted for the method, also 

 Lady Downe's, Gros Colmar, Alnwick Seedling, 

 Muscat of Alexandria, West's St. Peters, and 

 Gros Guillaume, with several others. 



Cold Storage. — One method of preserving 

 fresh fruit, which has been carried out on a 

 most extensive scale in the United States and 

 Canada, i.e. cold storage, has not been adopted 

 in Britain commercially at present, but increas- 

 ing attention is being paid to the matter, and 

 there is little doubt that in the course of a few 

 years it will be in more general use. Com- 

 panies are being formed for the development of 

 different systems, and though these have been 



