442 



THE FORCING DEPARTMENT. 



which the fruit is deprived of a portion of its moisture, and is thought by 

 many gardeners to keep better, while others disapprove of it as giving the 

 fruit a bad taste. In whatever manner fruit is placed in the fruit-room or 

 fruit- cellar, the doors and windows of the apartments should be kept closely 

 shut, so as to keep the atmosphere of as uniform a temperature and moisture 

 as possible. It should, as we have already observed (930), never be lower 

 than 40°, nor higher than 45°, if possible in close mild weather to keep it so 

 low, with the dew point indicating a very slight degree of dryness occasion- 

 ally. There are, however, exceptions, such as in the case of ripening off, or 

 keeping such kinds in that temperature which experience proves to be most 

 conducive for producing fine consistence and flavour. This requires one or 

 more separate compartments having a command of heat, wherein the tem- 

 perature may be graduated as circumstances may require. The external 

 air ought only to be admitted when that within is rendered offensive 

 by the decomposition of the fruit. If at any time the temperature should 

 fall below 32°, still no artificial heat ought to be applied, but thawing 

 allowed to take place in the dark, when the weather changes as gradually 

 as freezing had done. Table apples and pears which are expected to keep 

 for some months, are kept on shelves singly, or in shallow drawers, or packed 

 in boxes, jars, or pots, with dried fern or kiln-dried straw. New garden 

 pots are found to answer remarkably well for keeping fruit, any damp being 

 readily absorbed by the dry, porous, unglazed materials of which they are 

 usually composed. Fruits which are thus packed do not require to be 

 examined till the time when they are expected to be fit for the table, 

 which should always be marked, along with the name, on the label attached 

 to the jar or box ; but fruits exposed to the air on the open shelves require 

 to be examined almost every day, in order to remove those which exhibit 

 symptoms of decay. Walnuts, sweet chesnuts, and filberts, may be kept in 

 boxes or casks, placed in the fruit-cellar on account of its low but uniform 

 temperature. Summer fruit, such as peaches, nectarines, plums, are seldom 

 kept more than a day or two in the fruit-room, but they are sometimes 

 kept in the ice-house for a week or more, but with some loss of flavour. 



CHAPTER III. 

 THE FORCING DEPARTMENT. 



The principles of constructing plant-houses, together with those of culture 

 in artificial climates, having been already given (480 to 522), we proceed to 

 show their application to the pinery, vinery, peach-house, fig-house, cherry- 

 house, cucumber and melon pits and frames, and the forcing in frames and 

 pits of such culinary vegetables as it is desired to have produced out of 

 season. We have already seen (488 to 508) that artificial heat may be applied 

 in plant structures by dung or other fermenting substances, by hot w^ater, by 

 steam, or by smoke-flues ; or by two or more of these modes of heating 

 combined. Fermenting substances are almost always the safest, and hot 

 water generally the best ; but, as we have observed (492), the same result 

 may be obtained by smoke-flues, and is still obtained in many parts of 

 the country, though not without extra care on the part of the gardener. 



