JUNE. 
131 
beautifully in bloom, remaining so for three or four weeks, or much longer, if 
they are kept partially shaded. 
In May, when the foliage begins to turn yellow, the pots may be removed 
to the open air for a few weeks, when the bulbs may be taken out of the pots 
and laid away in a dry cool place until wanted for planting again in the autumn ; 
or the bulbs may remain in the pots, and they will flower several years without 
fresh potting, but they should be kept in a dry cool place during the summer 
months when they are at rest. I generally leave my bulbs in the pots, and 
only fresh plant when the offsets get very numerous. 
After the foliage has died down, and the bulbs are quite at rest, I have 
them placed on a shelf out of sight, where they are both cool and dry, and no 
more attention is paid them until the autumn, when the pots are set for a short 
time in water, that the soil may get thoroughly moistened. They are then 
placed on a shelf in a cool viuery, near the glass, and they soon begin to grow, 
and in due time produce their pretty flowers. 
Stourton. M. Saul. 
NOTES ON FRUIT-ROOMS. 
A fruit-room is a necessary appendage to a garden, but often too little 
thought of when the garden is first formed. There are some places to be met 
with where the fruit-rooms are so badly constructed that they are in no way cal¬ 
culated for the preservation of fruit. In my opinion no garden of any pretension 
should be without its fruit-room and other similar conveniences, of which I am 
about to speak. The internal fittings are got up so cheaply now that no one 
need be without them. Some are advocates for making the fruit-shelves of 
glass, some recommend open sparred shelves, and others close boarded ones. 
I have had shelves constructed of stone pavement, and have kept the fruit in a 
sound state for a considerable time. Those I have at present, which have been 
under my care for the last fourteen years, are made of black birch, which com¬ 
municates no unpleasant taste to the fruit, as zinc often does. They are cut 
into spars 4 inches broad, with about an inch of an opening between, and 
the house is properly ventilated. That they have given every satisfaction in 
the preservation of the fruit is proved by our having kept Apples in a sound 
state till the 7th of June, with only a thin layer of dry hay upon them. 
Such a house may be conveniently placed behind the forcing-houses, 
and should be properly ventilated, and 2 or 3 feet clear of the ground, so 
as to prevent it from becoming damp. The fruit-room should have a table 
down the centre, and shelves round the sides 3 feet broad, and 14 inches apart, 
made of black birch cut into four-inch spars, with a small opening between. 
These shelves are divided into compartments of 3 feet 9 inches, with a ledge 
in front about 2 inches high. A root-room may adjoin this, with drawers 
round the sides, so as to be useful for storing bulbous roots, such as Gladiolus, 
Tulips, Hyacinths, Ranunculus, &c. Underneath the drawers, on the ground 
floor Dahlia roots may be placed and covered with dry sand so as to preserve 
them during winter. There may also be a small room with a table down the 
centre for the forwarding of late Pears, &c. In this department there may 
be placed a small stove or fire which can be lighted during winter when the 
weather has been long damp, or to expel frost. In such weather the door 
leading from this to the fruit-room should be left open, so that the heat may 
penetrate to it, the better to preserve the fruit. From the period of storing 
the fruit until March, the temperature may range from 38° to 42°; after that 
period the temperature of the room may be kept as near to 40° as possible. 
