118 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



such as Victoria do not dry well, but varieties such as Prince 

 Englebert, Black Diamond, Monarch, Czar, Kirke's, Emperor, 

 &C, are excellent for the purpose. 



Apples. 



This is a fruit that is so much needed in every household 

 that the best means of keeping up a good supply is of the utmost 

 importance. What are the conditions required to keep apples, 

 and how these conditions may be provided, I will now try to 

 explain. The first condition is that they should be inaccessible 

 to frost, except it be occasionally two or three degrees. 

 Secondly, the temperature should be maintained as equable as 

 possible, and not exposed to any sudden rise or fall. Thirdly, 

 they should not be too dry. Fourthly, some means of ventila- 

 tion should be provided when required. 



The easiest and cheapest mode of accommodation must, of 

 course, depend upon the resources that each grower has at hand ; 

 but the needful conditions are more easily and cheaply provided 

 than many imagine. A cave in a chalk bank or sandhill makes 

 an admirable apple store, where all the requirements are present 

 except fitting up the needful shelves and means for ventilating. 

 Where this is impracticable, it is sometimes the case that a barn 

 or other farm building may be easily converted into a suitable 

 store by the construction of an inside lining of match -boarding, 

 the intermediate space being filled up with sawdust, straw, or 

 sedge hay. Where, however, none of these means exist, a simple 

 store may be made as follows : — Select a shady, sheltered 

 position and excavate the soil to a depth of 2 to 3 feet, accord- 

 ing to the nature of the soil and means of thorough drainage. 

 Set out the building to a width of 10 feet and length according 

 to requirements, build a plain wall to a height of about 3 feet, 

 above ground, cover with a thick coat of thatch, and line the 

 rafters with match-boarding. Bank up the outside of the walls 

 with soil and let the thatch project well over it. This will keep 

 out frost and maintain an even temperature. Then form shelves 

 8 feet wide on each side and about 15 in. apart. A double 

 window with a shutter should be placed at one end and a double 

 door at the other, and a ventilator in the gable at each end. A 

 building thus constructed, 20 feet long and 10 feet wide, would 

 stmc about 100 bushels of fruit. Leave the earthen floor, which 



