126 



does not materially affect apples, for apples com- 

 pletely frozen have kept equally well with the rest ; 

 but then no artificial means must be used to thaw the 

 frost. After the first of March the fruit-room must 

 be close shut up, for the admission of much air after 

 that period causes the fruit to shrivel up and lose 

 their colour ; and they should be handled as little as 

 possible after the month of May, nor should they 

 ever be wiped until they are about to be used for the 

 table, for they soon become unsound after being so 

 treated. Apples will be found to keep better and 

 much longer in this simple way than by the usual 

 practice of covering with hay, straw, moss, or any 

 thing else whatever ; for fruit crowded together, or 

 covered up with any material, will in a short time be- 

 come heated, and deprived not only of its gloss and 

 colour, but also of its flavour. In the way recom- 

 mended above, the codlins and softer kinds of baking 

 apples have kept good till the end of June, and the 

 pippins, as well as various sorts of dessert apples, to 

 the end of October, with their colour as fresh as 

 when they were first gathered, and their flavour not 

 in the least deteriorated. (Gard. Mag. iii. 10.) 



Even though the apples are so placed as not to 

 touch each other, yet it is very essential that all de- 

 caying ones should be removed as soon as observed, 

 for it is well-known that all vegetable decomposition 

 of this kind is attended by parasitical fungi, the mi- 



