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XL VII. On the Preservation of Fruits, during Winter and 

 Spring. By Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq. F. R. S. $c 

 President. 



Read January 2, 1816. 



Th e art of preserving fruits for the dessert, in Winter and 

 Spring, appears to be better understood, or, at least, to be 

 practised with better success, by the gardeners of the con- 

 tinent, than by those of the British Islands ; and it becomes 

 a very interesting subject of enquiry, whether the superior 

 success of the continental gardeners be dependent upon the 

 superior qualities of their fruits, upon the influence of a 

 less humid atmosphere, during Winter, or upon some pecu- 

 liarities of management . 



Fruits which have grown upon standard trees, in climates 

 sufficiently warm and favourable to bring them to maturity, 

 are generally more firm in their texture, and more saccha- 

 rine, and therefore more capable of being longer preserved 

 sound, than such as have been produced by wall-trees ; a 

 dry and warm atmosphere also operates very favourably 

 to the preservation of fruits, under certain circumstances, 

 but under other circumstances, very injuriously : for the 

 action of those elective attractions, which occasion the decay 

 and decomposition of fruits, is suspended by the operation 

 of different causes, in different fruits, and even in the same 

 fruit, in different states of maturity. W r hen a grape is grow- 

 ing upon the vine, and till it has attained perfect maturity, it 

 is obviously a living body, and its preservation dependent 



