76 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



Better Fruit and Vegetable Cellars 



A HOME that does not have plenty of 

 fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as 

 home canned things, falls far short of the 

 ideal. Every house ought to have separate 

 compartments for fruit and vegetables, be- 

 cause decay spreads quicker in one un- 

 specialized compartment and because vege- 

 tables impart disagreeable odors to delicate 

 fruits. Let these compartments open from 

 the north side of the cellar, if possible, to 

 avoid the sun; and if they are partially under- 

 ground all the better, as the temperature 

 will be more even. See that they are sepa- 

 rated from the section of the cellar which 

 contains the furnace, or the temperature will 

 be too high and the fruit will decay. Have 

 each room as compactly arranged as possible 

 for economy of space, and dispose the fruit 

 in boxes and baskets, on shelves or trays, to 

 avoid bending over and to keep them out 

 of reach of mice. 



It is not advisable, for the family's health, 

 to store more than a small quantity of fruit 

 in the house cellar, unless the temperature 

 can be controlled so as to prevent the decay 

 of fruit and vegetables. A separate build- 

 ing is better, if large quantities of apples, 

 pears, potatoes, cabbages, etc. (enough to 

 furnish fresh fruit and vegetables all winter) 

 are to be carried over. The underground 

 structure, the side-hill cellar and the old- 

 fashioned outside cellar are not in as high 

 favor as formerly. 



TEMPERATURE AND ATMOSPHERE 



Generally speaking, a temperature which 

 will keep butter in good condition in summer 

 is good for fruit in winter. To be more 

 exact: Apples and cranberries, 33 ; canned 

 goods, dried apples and pears, 35 ; grapes 

 and lemons, 3 6°. 



Among these, apples are by far the best, 

 most popular and keep the longest, as may be 

 seen by the following table : 



Apples ^ 2 to 8 months 



Pears 2 to 4 " 



Grapes (in sawdust) 6 to 8 weeks 



Lemons 8 to 12 " 



Oranges 8 to 12 " 



The latest discoveries of the Department of 

 Agriculture show that apples for keeping 

 must lose no time between the orchard and 

 the storehouse. Picked fruit that has been in 

 an ordinary temperature even for twenty-four 

 hours is not in the best condition for storing. 

 It is worse than useless to store anything but 

 ripe and perfect fruit, and it must be handled - 

 gently to avoid bruising. Packing apples 



on their sides instead of their ends is recom- 

 mended. They must be examined during 

 the season, so that the decayed ones may be 

 removed before the others are affected. 



An even temperature in the store-room 

 is very important; also ventilation. The air 

 should be moist enough to prevent evapo- 

 ration, or the fruit will shrivel. The kinds 

 that are sensitive in this way should be wrap- 

 ped in paper, which has the two-fold advan- 

 tage of insulation and preventing the spread 

 of rot. Good as this practice is, it is very 

 little used except in California. It will pay 

 the amateur to do it, with choice sprayed 

 fruit of long-keeping varieties. 



New York. A. R. M. 



Uncommon Vegetables Worth 

 Knowing — Vegetable Marrow 



THE vegetable marrow is a long, white 

 summer squash, so smooth and with a 

 skin so thin and tender that to prepare it for 

 cooking is a much pleasanter task than peel- 

 ing the thick, warty skin of the popular 

 crookneck varieties. It is more satisfactory 

 than the common white squash, which it re- 

 sembles in quality, because it is less watery. 

 As a keeper it deserves special mention, for 

 some w r ere taken from our vines at the first 

 frost, and two months later they were still 

 sound. It is remarkably fair and free from 

 blemishes. We have always had to coddle 

 our other squash vines to prevent destruction 

 by insects, but the vegetable marrow vines 

 were left almost entirely to themselves and 

 no enemy appeared to attack them. They 

 were not remarkably prolific in our ground, 



124. A good thing— the vegetable marrow 



but they certainly made up in weight what 

 they lacked in numbers, some specimens 

 being nearly two feet long and more than six 

 inches through, and very solid and heavy at 

 that. Unfortunately, we did not weigh any 

 of them. 



Our English friends make more use of 

 this squash than we do. They serve it with 

 beef or lamb and cook it in a peculiar way; 

 it is peeled and cut lengthwise, the seed is 



removed, and after being boiled till tender 

 in salted water it is covered with a cream 

 sauce. We cooked this dish last season and 

 can recommend it. It would not be recog- 

 nized as squash, either in taste or looks, but 

 is an attractive addition to the bill of fare, 

 being especially useful in the fall when the 

 summer vegetables have gone. A supply of 

 vegetable marrows in the cellar will keep 

 sound for many weeks. I. M. A. 



Scarsdale, N. Y. 



A New Way of Killing the San 

 Jose Scale 



ANOTHER unboiled wash, which promises 

 to be equally as effective against the San 

 Jose scale as the one described on page 22, 

 though it has been tested but one season, calls 

 for 10 lbs. of sal soda in place of the caustic 

 soda. It may be prepared as follows: Put 

 5 or 6 pails of hot water in a wooden barrel, 

 preferably a thick pork or oil barrel, add the 

 lime, quickly following that with the sulphur 

 and sal soda, and stir till the slaking is prac- 

 tically completed. It may be necessary to 

 add cold water at intervals to keep the mixture 

 from boiling over. After the rapid bubbling 

 or boiling is practically completed, cover the 

 open barrel with burlap and allow it to stand 

 15 to 30 minutes or more. A deep-red 

 or even pea-green color should be secured 

 and very little sediment remain. Strain and 

 dilute as for other washes. Ten lbs. of 

 salt or thereabouts is frequently added to 

 lime-sulphur washes, and, while it does no 

 harm, repeated experiments show very little 

 or no benefit resulting therefrom. Another 

 material, known as the kerosene limoid spray, 

 has been extensively noticed in the past few 

 weeks, and while it undoubtedly has value, 

 its use in more than an experimental way 

 cannot be advised at present. The limoid is 

 a very fine commercial magnesium lime con- 

 taining from 30 to 40 per cent, of magnesia, 

 which appears to take up the kerosene, and for 

 a winter or early spring application a 20 per 

 cent, mixture composed of 5 gallons of kero- 

 sene and 20 pounds of limoid has been rec- 

 ommended. The kerosene is poured into a 

 barrel, the limoid added and stirred until the 

 two are thoroughly mixed; then a small 

 amount of water is supplied and the mixture 

 again agitated. It is then diluted to 25 gal- 

 lons and again stirred vigorously for three 

 minutes or more, till an emulsion is pro- 

 duced. A smooth mixture flowing as freely 

 as water should be obtained. 



Albany, N. Y. E. P. Felt. 



