STORING AND PRESERVING OF FRUIT. 



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a much cheaper rate with corks than with other patent stoppers. 

 But with amateurs stoppered bottles can be used repeatedly 

 and with care will last for many years. Gooseberries are 

 generally bottled green, but black and red currants, raspberries 

 and cherries when ripe. 



Plums. 



This is one of the most valuable crops for home consumption, 

 and it is not possible greatly to extend the time for use in an 

 entirely natural state, as the fruit is very tender and soon 

 decays. This may, however, be done to a certain extent by cold 

 storage where the establishment is large enough ; and it is a 

 most valuable help to gardeners in preserving not only plums 

 but other choice fruit also, such as peaches, nectarines, 

 apricots, figs, cherries, strawberries, melons, &c. Several 

 experiments were carried out a few years since by the R.H.S. 

 in this direction. It was then found that by placing the fruit 

 in a temperature below freezing point the flavour and character 

 of the fruit was too much altered, as it ruptured the cellular 

 tissues, with the result that when thawed it almost immediately 

 fell to pulp and decayed. But by keeping the temperature to 

 within a few degrees of freezing-point much choice fruit could 

 be kept in good palatable condition for periods of several weeks. 

 This system is now very largely adopted by many of the ship- 

 ping companies who convey fruit considerable distances in good 

 condition in a low temperature, and the same system is adopted 

 on the American railways to convey fruit long distances by land. 

 I have seen cases of peaches brought by Messrs. Donald 

 Currie & Co.'s steamers from the Cape to London containing 

 from ten to twelve dozen fruits which did not contain half a 

 dozen damaged fruits. In large establishments where quantities 

 of fruit are grown, and when it is often difficult to keep fruit for 

 special occasions, what an immense assistance it would be to 

 the gardener to have a chamber of this kind in which to store 

 surplus fruit until a time particularly required or to prolong the 

 period of using an extra heavy crop. Any fruit intended to be 

 stored in this way should be gathered before it is quite ripe. 



The usual means of preserving plums are by jam and bottling, 

 and a most useful dish they are when bottled as above described. 

 For this purpose, however, they must be gathered before they 



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