438 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
September 5. 
growing a foot high; a desirable plant; increased by 
seed and division. 
C. tomentosum (Downy); from Italy: flowering 
in May; with violet• coloured flowers;' increased by 
division. 
C. Vjbginica (Virginian); colour rich blue; height 
one foot; flowering in June. 
CZACIvIA. 
A genus of plants named in honour of Czack, a 
Russian botanist. It is the Anthericum liliustrum of 
the older botanists. 
C. LiLiASTRtJM (Liliaster) ; native of the South of 
Europe; flowering in May; with white blooms; the 
flowers resemble transparent silk; it is very hardy, and 
readily increased by division. T. Appleby. 
(To be continued.) 
THE FRUIT-ROOM. 
i 
i 
Notwithstanding all that has been said on the 
matter, it too frequently happens that many things 
besides the legitimate occupants of the fruit-room find 
their way thither ; bulbs, seeds, lumber of various kinds, 
and other litter, all, more or less, are too often crammed 
into the fruit-room; and as all these things are no doubt 
useful in their way, we must not be too severe in our 
censures on those who have no other place to stow away 
such things, ouly it is right to call attention to the 
sacrifice their presence there occasions; for, he it 
remembered, that a quantity of fruit, bulbs, and roots, 
deposited all together, are widely different from a like 
quantity of manufactured goods, wood, or iron; for these 
last named, being divested of all vitality, do not give off 
any of those gases or exhalations which contaminate 
the premises they occupy ; not but that certain chemical 
substances do so, and often to a hurtful extent, but, in a 
general way, the exhalations from such things are more 
injurious to animal life than to other manufactured goods 
in their immediate neighbourhood ; but such is not the 
case with vegetable substances when piled together, or 
brought near each other, and placed under circum¬ 
stances so as to be compelled to absorb, to a certain 
extent, each other’s impurities; for instance, let us take 
two articles both useful in their way. 
Let us suppose that large bunches of Sweet Herbs are 
either drying in the fruit-room, otherwise, placed there 
for want of a better place, at the same time some Pears 
are also ripening for table ; now’, when the atmosphere 
is charged with the odour arising from Lavender, Sweet 
Marjoram, and other strong-smelling plants, it is only 
fair to suppose that a delicate fruit like a Peach, or a 
Pear, just in mellow order for table, should be tainted 
with it, either more or less, and its flavour impaired. I 
know, to a certainty, that Tears partake largely of the 
flavour of any substance they may have been packed in, 
where they have been so kept and confined in the same 
as musty lray, sawdust, and other substances; and as 
the fruit imbibes, in that instance, the flavour of the 
substance by which it is surrounded, it is only reason¬ 
able to suppose that it will likewise do the same from 
the atmosphere when that is loaded with impurities of a 
kind which, if not in itself obnoxious and offensive, is 
certainly at variance with what nature intended for it, 
and, consequently, must be fatal to the conservative 
properties of the fruit, if it does not impart an im¬ 
proper flavour likewise. Now', taking all these things 
into consideration, it is easy to comprehend the point 
that ought to be attained. A sweet, well-ventilated 
atmosphere, such an one as our worthy farm-house 
dames like to place their milk in,—cool, yet fresh and 
sweet; for, as milk imbibes any noxious exhalation by 
which it is surrounded, so, likewise, will fruit, though, 
perhaps, to a more limited extent; consequently, if the j 
fruit-room could be so contrived as to be out of the ; 
reach of such things, so much the better; at all events, 
do not let it be encumbered iuside with substances ! 
likely to create what is not wanted. 
Much has of late been said about fruit-rooms, and the ; 
proper keeping of fruits; but, after all, much of the best ! 
fruit that finds its way into Covent Garden Market is I 
kept in a very homely way ; heaped up in some shed 01- 
out-house (very often, in fact, in the hop-kiln). 
Apples are turned out from there in March and April, in j 
a condition which those having more ample means have 
much difficulty to exceed; nevertheless, there is much j 
loss amongst them, and the smaller quantity which 
private growers usually have to deal with, enables them 
to keep their’s in a manner wherein they can see and ! 
examine the stock daily, in order to see what needs 
removing. For, as most fruit-rooms are fitted up with \ 
shelves, and are sufficiently capacious to hold all the 1 
fruit required, without being more than two thick, any 
decayed one is much easier discovered. But prior to the 
fruit-room being used, it is proper to say a few words on 
it, beginning with its construction. 
I think it has been already mentioned in this work, ! 
that this building should not stand in an open, exposed 
place, with windows to the south, but, if possible, it 
would be better to shade it from that side, and render 
the other as open and well-ventilated as possible, and be 
sure to have such ventilation at top as will enable all 
noxious gasses to escape as they are generated; 
apertures at the bottom of the house will also be 
necessary, so that the room is fed by a continuous 
influx of good fresh air, and the tainted portion 
driven off by the same means. This top and bottom ! 
ventilation is especially required, and we know of 
nothing worse than a close-ceiled room, with no 
apertures for air save the windows mid-way up the 
side. A fruit-room, to be a good one, ought to have as 
much ventilation as a place intended for public meet¬ 
ings, as, in fact, a church or chapel. It may, perhaps, be 
urged that these latter are not in all cases furnished 
with openings, but then their loftiness is such as is 
capable.of containing a large volume of heated or im- j 
pure air, which, as those meetings are not always 5 
continuous, get emptied of their improper contents, and ; 
refilled with fresh, pure atmospheric air before the build¬ 
ing is again wanted ; but such is not the rase, with the I 
fruit-room—there the evil is often a'contuumus one, so 
that the fruit, or other object inside, gets tainted, either 
more or less, unless, as above, a stream of cold, fresh air 
is always pouring in, so as to displace the bad ere it j 
assumes a too vitiated character. 
The best keeping fruit-room ever I had stood behind < 
a high garden wall—its north side being furnished with 
the two windows and a door, while its ends abutted into i 
other buildings—it was not lofty, but, having a lean-to 
roof, it was plastered and ceiled inside, the same as the 
roof, and a ventilation was formed at the highest part 
by an opening in the aforesaid garden wall, not leading 
through to the south, but going upward, like a chimney, 
in fact. Small openings were also made at the bottom 
of the opposite wall, whereby a large current of cold air 
was sucked in, which, circulating through the room, 
finally ascended at the back and out at the top, followed 
by another current the same way : in this room fruit of all 
kinds kept well; the fittings were the ordinary shelves 
all around, and a large table inside, which was also 
often loaded with things for immediate use ; the fittings 
are of less moment, as every oue can arrange them to 
suit his or her own convenience; the leading principle 
of how to act, seems more especially called for here. 
Much as has been said about the fruit-room, &c., it 
must also be borne in mind that the seasons are not 
always alike for rendering the fruit capable of enduring 
