Published by 
The Rural Publishing Co. 
333 W. 30th Street 
New York 
The 
The Business Farmer’s Paper 
Weekly, One Dollar Per Year 
Postpaid 
Single Copies, Five Cents 
VOL. LXXVI. 
Ni:w yoUK, -MAY 5, 1017. 
Xo. 4428. 
The Storage of Apples on the Farm 
Good Fruit at Light Expense 
Part T. 
URIED FRUIT.—Severnl years ago, before I 
moved to the country, I btH'iime interested in 
storing a])ples on it small scale for my own use. 
In my city hack yard I tested out several methods 
of hnrying fruit, and worked out a practical meth¬ 
od of keeping small quantities for an almost in- 
delinite period. The chief ftaiture of the method 
I -worked otit was that I kept the 
fruit from coming into dii'ect contact 
with the water which had seeped 
through the soil from the surface. 
We have all eaten apples hnri('d in 
the familiar fashion which has he('n 
in vogue on all farms for genera¬ 
tions. and such apples invariably 
taste moldy. This I managed to 
prevent hy keeping the fruit dry 
during its i)eriod of storage. I 
])laced the fruit to he kept in small 
boxes, covered the boxes with many 
layers of newspapers and old mag.i- 
zines, and then piled enough diif on 
top of the i)apers to prevent freez¬ 
ing. The ai)plcs stored in this way 
kei»t beautifull.v and did not have 
any ‘Taste of the soil” when they 
were taken out in the Spring. 
AX ERROR WITH TARRED PA¬ 
PER.—^Aftei' moving to the farm I 
tri(>d the same scheme on a larger 
.scale. I i)laced half a dozen barrels 
of apples, end to end, on a slightly 
elevated piece of ground. Then, be¬ 
cause 1 did not have enough ohl ])a- 
pers to keep them dry I turned to 
the next cheapest thing and used 
common tarred paper, laying it 
lengthways of the barrels and cov¬ 
ering them .so tliat no percolating 
rain water could reach the fruit. 
The tarred paper kept the apples 
dry all right, hut it ahso imparted to 
them its own strong and charact<‘r- 
istic flavor. When they were tak(>n 
o\it in the Spi'ing those a])i»les re¬ 
sembled nothing so much as they 
did moth halls, and I believe they 
would have been perfectly safe to 
u.se for that purpo.se. 
CELLAR STORAGE.—The next 
year we began to experiment with 
cellar storage, and in the inteiwal 
since have workcMl out a jiractical 
system that will hold apples indetin- 
itely, and in better condition than 
cold storage. In fact this system 
gives cold storage results without 
the loss of flavor which sometimes 
characterizes the commercially stored 
fruit. Our tii-st cellar was a crude 
affair, as it was a converted “cold 
room” that had been built on one of 
oui- farms by a former owner many 
years ago. 
EARLY EXl'ERIEXCE.—This old 
cellar Avas located in a “hank" and 
was built of sandstone secured in 
the neighborhood. The stones were 
loosely laid up to form walls, and 
the roof was of timber covered Avith 
eartli. In rebuilding this cellar for 
our apple experiments, Ave made a 
double-walled door and installed a ?;ix-inch tile 
drain. We ahso provided a A’entilator extending 
through the roof in one corner. Our experience 
Avith this cellar demonstrated many thing on 
both sides of the question. It showed us con¬ 
clusively that Ave could hold our fruit in good 
condition. It also showed us that to be held in 
good condition the fruit must be gathered at the 
right time and handled in the right Avay. It also 
proved that one of the things Avhich Ave must 
gmird against Avas the insidious mou.se. That old 
stone cellar kejtt out the cold Avonderfully but 
it Ava.s a regular iiicnic ground for all the mice in 
the neighborhood—and it's some neigh bo rli.ood for 
mice at that. 
LAIRRDVIXG COXDTTIOXS. — Having con¬ 
vinced ourselves that cellar storage on the farm 
Avas a iiractical possibility, Ave set about to build 
a cellar which Avould fulfill all of the required 
conditions, and a descrii)tion of that building 
and of its operation the past season Avill best 
prove my i)oint that the storage of api)les on the 
farm can be made a success. Our ucav cellar is 
built in the side of a hill, in a space formerly oc¬ 
cupied by the head of a small ravine. We staxt- 
(‘d Avork hy digging out the head of this ravine 
to a depth that Avould give us a flat floor about 
oO feet long and .18 to 20 feet Avide. On this flat 
floor Ave built a concrete box having in.side dimen¬ 
sions of 40x15 feet, and Avith Avails eight feet 
high. The Avails of this box AAmre a foot thick 
and rested on the native stone for footing. 
MATERIALS AXI) (’OXSTRUCTIOX.—For a 
roof Ave used terra cotta Iniilding tile one foot 
s(iuiu-e. These AA'ere laid on the form AA'hich .sup- 
ported the roof during construction, and AA’ere 
.spaced foxir inches apax-t. Coxicx*ete was then pouicd 
over and betAA'een these tile.s, .so as to foi-in a solid 
slab. This gaA'e a i-oof of tile with four inches of 
concrete OA^er the top. and Avith 16-inch concrete 
la'ams betAveen each course of tile. Xear the bot¬ 
tom of each of these beams Ave placed, as the con¬ 
struction ])roceeded, one tAvi.sted iron bar 1% inch 
thick. We expected that this roof Avoidd be Avatex-- 
proof, as AA'e had used a Avaterpi-oofing 
xnaterial in the conci’ete, but the lix-st 
x'ain disillu.sioned us on this scox*<\ 
and Ave had to px’ovide some other 
xnethod of turning the I'ain aAvay. 
After numeroxxs consultations Avith 
I’oofing experts Ave determined to use 
a good gx'ade of “rubber” x’oofing 
paper. This Avas laid directly on the 
smooth concrete surface, and Avas ap¬ 
plied so that each strip lappe<l th(‘ 
other hy at least 10 inches. These 
laps Avere giA’en a liberal coat of 
roofing cement. We then applied a 
coating of sti’aAV to protect the iicaa'- 
ly applied x'oofing. ;ind on top of the 
.straAv AA-e dumped a layer of soil 
about one foot thick. I’he .space 
ai’ound the walls was of cour.se tilled 
Avith soil, .so that Ave had in elfect the 
same thing that Ave had in our old 
experimental cellar. In this ca.se it 
Avas a concx’ete box com])letely covex'ed 
Avith earth except at one end, Avhex’e 
enough Avail Avas exposed to px’ovide 
for a foux’-foot door. 
VERMIX-PROOF VEXTILATTON. 
—Under this cellar and opening into 
it in tAvo places Ave i>rovided a 12-inch 
di-ain tile to perform the double 
function of carrying off Avater and 
supplying fx’e.sh aii-. In the roof Ave 
pi’ovided tAvo 12-inch Aamtilatox’s. 
These A'entilatoi’s aa’ci’c set on the tojx 
of tAA'o cuixcx’cte chimneys built into 
the x’oof. They are very cax’efully 
and thoroughly screened Avith quar¬ 
ter-inch mesh Avii-e cloth, and a sim¬ 
ilar screen is applied over the eixd of 
the drain. In addition to this the 
door is provided Avith a heavy 
.scx’een, so that the exitix’e buildixxg is 
absolxitely x*at and mouse-px'oof. 
This is one of the most impoxTant 
features of construction in a cellar of 
this soxT, ami it is one of the pxdme 
reasoxis Avhy such a cellar must be 
made of concrete rather than of field 
stone or of AA'ood. 
PROYIDIXG FOR MOLSTURE.—It 
will be noticed that Ave built the 
x’oof so that it Avas Avatex-proof. This 
precaution is xiot xieeded, in fact it 
is not desix'able, in the ca.se of the 
Avails. We Avi.sh to get as much 
moisture ixito the hoxxse as po.ssible, 
but Ave do not Avant any of it to 
run doAvn oA-er the packages of ap¬ 
ples. We found that if the packages 
did get AA'et it did not matexdally af¬ 
fect their keeinng qualitie.s, but it 
ruined the appeai’ance of the box ox- 
barrel, and for that i-ea.soxx Avas xin- 
desirable. As is Avell knoAA’xi the 
evapoi-atioxx of moistux-e Avill x-edxxce 
the texnperature of the surrounding air. In a cel¬ 
lar such as Ave haA-e built this pi-inciple foriiis an 
importaxit part of the .successful management of 
the place. We haA'e px-ovided an abundance of 
moistux-e by allOAving the AA'alls to x-exuain in the 
form of rough concrete. The soil xnoistixre tx-ickles 
thx-ough the.se Avails and thx-ough the concx-ete floor 
almost all Winter. The surplus is carried aAvay 
hy the drain, and xnuch is evapox-ated hy the 
abundance of air supplied by the saxue drain. In 
the early Fall this evapox-ation of Avater aids ma- 
Making the Forms for the New House. Fig. 249 
Farm Fruit Storage House of Rough Sandstone, Fig. 250 
