September 14, 1882. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 239 
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Sale of Bulbs at Stevens’s Rooms, Covent Garden. 
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15th Sunday after Trinity. 
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International Potato Show, Crystal Palace. 
GATHERING AND STORING FRUIT. 
AM afraid the above heading will appear like 
a grim joke to many of the readers of this 
Journal, and some, perhaps, will uncharitably 
remark : “ What is the good of advising upon 
the subject when we have little or no fruit to 
gather and store ?" Luckily all of us are not 
so badly situated, and those who own or are in 
charge of gardens well sheltered from the furious 
gale experienced on April 29th have good cause to con¬ 
gratulate themselves. Up to that date the prospect 
generally was bright enough, but the storm completely changed 
it; and instead of heavy crops of Apples and Pears in parti¬ 
cular, the question was not whether this season's crops would 
be worth anything, that being easily determined, but whether 
next season’s prospects would not be blighted, so seriously cut 
were all exposed trees. All, however, have not lost their crops 
of Apples and Pears, and as these are likely to prove of con¬ 
siderable value I propose to offer a few remarks upon securing 
and storing the fruit. 
More judgment is required in this matter than is generally 
exercised, as not a little depends upon gathering at the right 
stages and properly storing. Pears especially in one man's 
hands may prove of little value, while the same examples 
might easily have been transformed into delicious dessert fruit. 
Apples may also be easily mismanaged. There is a certain 
6tage when both kinds should be gathered, and if this is anti¬ 
cipated or passed the quality is risked. According to my ex¬ 
perience neither kind should be gathered and eaten at once, 
neither should they remain on the tree till presumably ripe— 
that is to say, in a dropping state, as by storing only for a 
short or long time, according to the variety, can richness and 
lusciousness be obtained. The proper time to gather is when 
the seeds are found to be nearly brown or black, and the stalks 
part freely from the trees when the fruit is lightly lifted. If 
gathered before they arrive at this stage the fruit is almost 
certain to shrivel, while if allowed to remain till ready to drop 
they are liable to become flat in flavour, both results being 
objectionable. 
At times it] may be advisable to gather part of the crop 
before being really fit, in order to artificially ripen the fruit, 
and thereby both obtaining dishes when perhaps much needed, 
and also lengthening the supply. This practice is particularly 
necessary~in ]the case of notorious bad keepers, such, for in¬ 
stance, as the delicious Pear Williams’ Bon Chretien. It is 
useless to pick these before the pips have commenced changing 
colour, but when found to be changing a quantity of fruit may 
be gathered, packed in hay in a hamper or box, and placed in 
a warm forcing house or a kitchen at a safe distance from the 
fire, which will induce early ripening without much impairing 
the quality. To succeed these more may be gathered at the 
same time or in the course of a day or two and placed in the 
fruit-room, this again hastening ripening, and in this manner 
the whole of the crop may bo ripened and eaten with the loss 
of few if any fruit. We ripened a good dish of Williams’ 
Bon Chretien by August 24th, and from the trees growing in 
three different aspects we shall continue to gather small quan¬ 
tities, and ripen the fruit in all probability throughout Septem¬ 
ber. Another very delicious Pear, Louise Bonne of Jersey, is 
also very amenable to this practice. The same method of in¬ 
ducing early ripening may be adopted in the case of heavy 
crops of Apples or Pears, or where it is necessary to maintain 
the supply without the assistance of certain varieties generally 
relied upon. 
Last season it was not a question of hastening but of retard¬ 
ing ripening, as nearly every variety was fit for use at un¬ 
usually early dates, great offenders in the respect being Winter 
Nelis, Knight’s Monarch, and Easter Beurre Pears. This 
season the reverse will probably be the case, as, unless a great 
change in the weather occurs soon, the absence of sunshine may 
result disastrously to the fruit. In all probability early frosts 
will be experienced before much of the crop can be considered 
fit to gather. Even slight frosts may not prove serious evils, 
but I prefer the fruit to part freely from the tree without their 
intervention. Neither Apples nor Pears are frost-proof to any 
appreciable extent, though in the case of some long-hanging 
sorts a slight frost is often of service in preparing them for 
gathering. Apples and Pears should, as a rule, be gathered 
as they become ready, neither before nor after if required 
to keep unimpaired in quality, and this plainly indicates the 
danger of gathering all sorts at a certain date. It may be 
more convenient to have a wholesale clearance, but it is far 
from being the most profitable practice. They should always 
be gathered in a dry state, every care being taken not to bruise 
them. 
Storing, the second part of my subject, is by no means the 
least important. We sometimes see gardens where fruit 
trees have been planted well and extensively, and yet no 
adequate provision made for properly storing the produce ; 
while others provide an elaborate fruit-room far beyond the 
requirements of the garden. The former, at any rate, err 
greatly in not providing a good^fruit-room, neither are we in 
favour of a large half-empty room. Apples and Pears are too 
often stowed away in various unsuitable places, those respon¬ 
sible evidently forgetting that a great chemical change has to 
take place before the so-called ripe fruit is really fit for eating, 
and that the circumstances under which this change occurs 
materially affect the quality. 
When first gathered the fruit is composed largely of 6tarch 
and acid, and in course of time this, by a natural process which 
I shall not attempt to explain, is converted into sugar, much 
of the water of the juice being evaporated. Now the most 
favourable position to assist this conversion is a dry, airy, 
but not draughty room, and the worst a close, damp, badly 
ventilated structure. Fruit gathered from the same tree 
and placed in two such widely differing places will, when in 
season, be found as widely different in quality as two dis¬ 
tinct varieties, those in the drier warmer room being invariably 
richer, sweeter, and brighter in colour. Evaporation form- 
No, 116 .—Yol. V., Third series. 
No. 1772.— Yoi. LXYII1., Old Series. 
