EXPERIMENT IN PACKING RIPE NECTARINES. 



21 



III. — Account of an Experiment in packing ripe fruit of the 

 Boston Nectarine, in boxes surrounded with ice, and trans- 

 witting it from Boston to London. By Robert Thompson. 



The following- is a copy of a letter from Stephen H. Perkins, 

 Esq., Brookline, near Boston, Massachusetts. 



" In the year 1821 my father, Samuel G. Perkins, who was 

 then a corresponding member of the Horticultural Society, sent 

 to the Secretary two plants, and a drawing, of a new variety of 

 Nectarine, which was named in London the Boston Nectarine. 

 One of the plants was sent to the garden of Mr. Knight, and one 

 to the garden of the Society, but, as I understand, neither has 

 ever borne fruit. The garden in which this fruit is raised, on 

 one tree spreading about 35 feet on the wall, and the only tree 

 bearing fruit of the kind in this country, as far as I know, came 

 into my possession two years since by inheritance. Last year I 

 packed some of the fruit in ice, and kept it in perfect order for 

 six weeks, and I am induced by the success of this experiment to 

 attempt sending some this season to England, thinking that the 

 rarity and great beauty of the fruit may make them acceptable. 

 I shall therefore send by the Enropa, Captain Lott, to sail next 

 week, about two dozen nectarines, packed in ice, some of which 

 I trust will arrive in good order. I have put up the nectarines 

 which ripened latest, without selecting the handsomest specimens 

 which the tree bore. This year the tree bore 210 nectarines, 

 several of which measured over 9 \ inches. It is under glass, 

 but no fire was used in ripening the fruit. I shall direct Captain 

 Lott to send the package to Regent Street by express, and it 

 should be attended to at once, in order to save the fruit. 



" Stephen H. Perkins. 



" Brookline, near Boston, Sept. 18, 1849." 



In a second letter, dated Sept. 25, Mr. Perkins advised that 

 he had that day packed the nectarines. u Captain Lott/' he 

 adds, " to whom I have intrusted them, has promised to do his 

 best to hasten them to their destination as soon as they leave the 

 ice-house of his ship." They were landed from the steam-ship 

 Europa Oct. 8, and forwarded from Liverpool by railroad to 

 London. They were received at the office in Regent Street on 

 the 10th. 



The nectarines were each wrapped in cotton, then in varnished 

 silk, and thus enveloped they were packed among cotton in 

 cylindrical wooden boxes or drums, 8 inches in diameter, and 

 3i inches deep. The lids of these boxes fitted tightly, and they 

 were also tied down. There were five of them, all packed in a 



