Book I V. 



GATHERING AND PRESERVING. 



439 



as that which nearly approaches maturity ; it is more apt to shrivel and lose flavor. 

 Winter apples are left on the trees till there be danger of frost : they are then gathered 

 on a dry day." [Ed. Enajc. art. Hort.) In no case should fruit be gathered with the 

 hand when any of the different descriptions of fruit -gatherers {Jigs. 141. to 153.) can be 

 used. With one or other of these, and the use of proper ladders {figs. 206. to 209.), every 

 kind of fruit, from the gooseberry to the walnut, may be gathered without bruising, 

 soiling, or fingering the fruit, and without injuring the tree. 



2292. Tlie gathering of seeds should take place in very dry weather, when the seed- 

 j)ods, by beginning to open, give indications of perfect ripeness. Being rubbed out with 

 the hand, beat with a stick, or passed through a portable threshing-machine, they are then 

 to be separated by sieves and fanners from their husks, &c. and spread out in a shaded 

 airy loft till they are so dry as to be fit for putting up in linen or paper bags, or putting 

 in drawers in the seed-room till wanted. 



2293. Preserving heads or leaves of vegetables is effected in cellars or sheds, of any 

 temperature, not lower, nor much above the freezing point. Thus cabbages, endive, 

 chiccory, lettuce, &c. taken out of the ground with their main roots in perfectly dry 

 weather, at the end of the season, and laid in, or partially immersed in sand or dry 

 earth, in a close shed, cellar, or ice-cold room, will keep through the winter, and be 

 fit for use till spring, and often till the return of the season of their produce in the 

 garden. The German gardeners are expert at this practice ; and more especially in 

 Russia, where the necessities being greater have called forth greater skill and attention. 



2294. Flowers and leaves for decoration may be preserved by drying between leaves of 

 paper, or in ovens ; or imbedded in their natural position in fine dry sand, placed in that 

 state in an oven. In this pot of sand they will keep for years ; but they must not be 

 taken out till v/anted. When at a little distance it will be difficult to distinguish them from 

 such as are fresh gathered. A rose is cut when the petals and leaves are perfectly dry, 

 a little sand is put in the bottom of the flower-pot, the rose is stuck in the sand, and sand 

 is then slowly sprinkled in till the rose be covered and the pot filled. At Paris and 

 Milan the more popular flowers are frequently preserved in this way. 



2295. Roots are preserved in different ways, according to the object in view. Tuberous 

 roots, as those of the dahlia, pa^onia, tuberose, &c. intended to be planted in the suc- 

 ceeding spring, are preserved through, the winter in dry earth, in a temperature rather 

 under than above what is natural to them. So may the bulbous and tuberous roots of com- 

 merce, as hyacinths, tulips, onions, potatoes, &c. ; but for convenience, these are kept either 

 loose in cool dry shelves or lofts, or the finer sorts in papers, till the season of planting. 



229G. Potaiues, turnips, and all similar roots which it is desired to preserve in a dor- 

 mant or unvegetating state beyond the season of planting, have only to be sunk in pits 

 to such a depth as that vegetation will not take place. A pit filled with these roots 

 to within five feet of the surface, and the remainder compactly closed with earth, and 

 kept quite dry, will keep one or more years in a sound state, and without vegetating. 

 {Farmers' Mag.)_ For convenience of using, there should be a number of small pits, or 

 rather of large pots of roots, so buried at a little distance from each other, as that na 

 more may be taken up at a time than what can be consumed in a few days. The mould 

 or compost ground will, in general, be found a convenient scene for this operation ; and, 

 for a small family, pots contrived with covers, or with their saucers, used as covers, may be 

 deeply immersed in a large shaded ridge of earth, to be taken up, one at a time, as 

 wanted. Grain, apples, and potatoes are kept the whole year in deep pits, in sandy soil, 

 foiTned in the village-greens of some parts of Gallicia and Moravia, and in banks and 

 rocks in Spain. Oldacre informs us, in his account of his rnushroom-house {Hort. Tr. 

 vol. ii.), that he preserved broccoli in it through the winter ; and Henderson, of Brechin, 

 makes use of the ice-house for preserving " roots of all kinds till the return of the natural 

 crop." " By the month of April," he says, "the ice in our ice-house is found to have 

 subsided four or five feet ; and in this empty room I deposit the vegetables to be pre- 

 served. After stuffing the vacuities viath straw, and covering the surface of the ice with 

 the same material, I place on it case-boxes, dry ware casks, baskets, &c. ; and fill them 

 with turnips, carrots, beet-roots, celery, and, in particular, potatoes. By the cold of the 

 place,^ vegetation is so much suspended, that all these articles may be thus kept fresh and 

 uninjured, till they give place to another crop in its natural season." 



2297. Green fruits are generally preserved by pickling or salting, and the operation 

 is performed by some part of the domestic establishment ; but in some countries it is 

 made the province of the gardener, who, in Poland, preserves cucumbers and khol- 

 rabbi by salting, and then immersing them in casks at the bottom of a deep well, where 

 the water, preserving nearly the same temperature throughout the year, impedes their 

 decay. It must be confessed, however, that vegetables so preserved are only fit to 

 be eaten with animal food, as preserved cabbage (i. e. sour-crout,) or other salted 

 legumes. 



2298. Such rij^e fruit as may be preserved is generally laid up in lofts and bins, or 



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