492 



MISCELLANEOUS GARDEN STRUCTURES. 



weights, so that no part of them should 

 rise above the surface of the water. Here, 

 again, we have a low and uniform tempe- 

 rature. 



The garrets of houses are too often 

 converted into fruit-rooms. It would be 

 difficult to find a worse situation than 

 these, as they are more influenced by 

 change of temperature than any other 

 part of a house. Dry cellars, where a 

 regular fruit-room is not deemed neces- 

 sary, are the best part of a dwelling for 

 this purpose ; and in such the Continental 

 fruit-growers and dealers preserve theirs. 



With the exception of the quotations 

 we have made in the beginning of this 

 article from " The Gardeners' Chronicle," 

 there has, in reality, been little written 

 upon the subject of preserving fruit and 

 the construction of fruit-rooms of much 

 utility. The papers by the late Mr 

 Knight in "The Horticultural Society's 

 Transactions " are valuable ; but they re- 

 late to practice only, excepting the follow- 

 ing rationale, which merits attention : 

 " A dry, warm atmosphere operates very 

 favourably to the preservation of fruits 

 under certain circumstances, but under 

 other circumstances very injuriously; for 

 the action of those electric attractions 

 which occasion the decay and decomposi- 

 tion of fruits, is suspended by the opera- 

 tion of different causes in different fruits, 

 and even in the same fruit in different 

 states of maturity. When a grape is 

 growing upon the vine, and till it has 

 attained perfect maturity, it is obviously 

 a living body, and its preservation is 

 depending upon the powers of life ; but 

 when the same fruit has some time passed 

 its state of perfect maturity, and has 

 begun to shrivel, the powers of life are 

 probably no longer, or at most very 

 feebly, in action ; and the fruit appears 

 to be then preserved by the combined 

 operation of its cellular texture, the anti- 

 sceptic powers of the saccharine matter it 

 contains, and by the exclusion of air by 

 its external skin ; but if that be destroyed, 

 it immediately perishes. If longer re- 

 tained in a dry and warm temperature, 

 the grape becomes gradually converted 

 into a raisin, and its component parts are 

 then only held in combination by the 

 ordinary laws of chemistry. 



"A Nonpareil apple, or a Catillac or 

 d'Auch pear, exhibits all the character- 



istics of a living vegetable body long after 

 it has been taken from the tree, and 

 appears to possess all the powers of other 

 similar vegetable bodies, except that of 

 growing, or vitally uniting to itself other 

 matter ; and the experiments which I 

 shall proceed to state prove that the pear 

 is operated upon by external causes, nearly 

 in the same manner after it has been de- 

 tached from the tree, as when it remains 

 vitally united to it. 



" Most of the fine French pears, parti- 

 cularly the pear d'Auch, are much sub- 

 ject, particularly when cultivated in a 

 cold and unfavourable climate, to crack 

 upon the trees before they become full 

 grown, and consequently to decay before 

 their proper season, or state of maturity ; 

 and those which present these defects in 

 my garden are therefore always taken 

 from the trees to a vinery, in which a 

 small fire is constantly kept in winter, 

 and they are there placed at a small dis- 

 tance over the flue. Thus circumstanced, 

 a part of my crop of d'Auch pears ripen, 

 and will perish if not used in November, 

 when the remainder continue sound and 

 firm till March or April, or later ; and 

 the same warm temperature which pre- 

 serves the grape in a slightly shrivelled 

 state till January, rapidly accelerates the 

 maturity and consequent decay of the 

 pear. By gathering a part of my swan's- 

 egg pears early in the season, (selecting 

 such as are most advanced towards matu- 

 rity,) and subjecting them, in the manner 

 above mentioned, to artificial heat, and 

 by retarding the maturity of the later 

 part of the produce of the same trees, I 

 have often had that fruit upon my table, 

 nearly in an equal state of perfection, 

 from the end of October to the beginning 

 of February; but the most perfect in 

 every respect have been those that have 

 been exposed in the vinery to light and 

 artificial heat as soon as gathered." 



On the construction of a fruit-room, 

 Maher, in the work last quoted, says : 

 " The room may be of any form, but one 

 long and narrow is generally best adapted 

 for ventilation, and heating and drying 

 when necessary by a flue. The system of 

 shelves may be placed along one side, and 

 may be raised to the height of 6 feet or 

 more, according to the number wanted. 

 The shelves are formed of open work, on 

 which to place square sieves of fruit, each 



