270 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
August 
strata—ascend again, and so on until tlie gathering 
is complete. With regard to huge orchard trees the 
case differs slightly; here business is transacted on 
a much larger scale ; even the rude wheelbarrow is 
ofttimes in requisition, or even a tumbril or light 
cart—but these are cases not often occurring with 
our readers; suffice it to say that much of the busi¬ 
ness is here transacted by means of very long ladders, 
and long hooked sticks occasionally, with sometimes 
a loud halloo of “ Bill, mind that ladder don’t slip!” 
when Bill, to shew the amount of his philosophy, 
will exclaim in return, “ Ne’er mind the ladder, lad— 
get that basket emptied, and let me have it! I can’t 
get on for want of baskets !” 
Well, now we have gathered a lot of apples or 
pears, as the case may be, and what are we to do 
with them ? This brings us to the storing part of 
the question. Before, however, proceeding in that 
part of the business, we feel bound to advert to the 
symptoms of ripeness. 
Symptoms of Ripeness.— This is a broad term to 
deal with, and no standard that can be set up will 
apply equally to all fruits. 
We will commence with the apple; here we must 
at once throw them into two classes, viz., table fruit 
and kitchen fruit. In the former it is absolutely ne¬ 
cessary that they remain on the tree until they have 
acquired that depth of flavour for which alone they 
are esteemed, and which constitutes them a separate 
class. Kitchen apples for long keeping, on the con¬ 
trary, we would gather a little short of that degree 
of ripeness. There are two acknowledged criteria of 
ripeness universally admitted in the apple ; the first, 
that coloured pips or seeds are an indication; the 
second, that on lifting the apple slightly up it parts 
tolerably easily from the tree without pulling hard at it. 
The last is mostly taken as the test, and we scarcely 
know of any better criterion. Much allowance, how¬ 
ever, must be made for the kind of fruit; such as are 
inclined to be dry or mealy should be gathered 
somewhat earlier; those of a subacid character, and 
abounding in juice, should be allowed to become tole¬ 
rably mature on the tree. 
Fears. —More skill is necessary in pear than in 
apple gathering; these are so various in character, 
that the utmost care is necessary. We would, in 
most cases, advise the cutting a fruit in two, and 
judging by the pips; these should be about three 
parts coloured in the majority of cases. Any kinds, 
as the Easter beurre, which are apt to become insi¬ 
pid, should, by all means, be gathered much earlier. 
Most of the Flemish kinds, especially such as the 
Beurre ranee, the Beurre d’Aremberg, the Glout mor- 
ceau, the Passe colmar, the Winter neilis, the Ne plus 
meuris, &c., should hang until late, unlesson a south 
wall. We have known tire Altliorpe crassanne to ex¬ 
cel all the pears in the garden, but in the majority of 
seasons it becomes mealy prematurely; this kind is 
so evidently bred from the old Swan’s-egg, that it is 
folly to place it against a wall, unless a very cool one ; 
such as this and the Easter beurre, moreover, do not 
require that amount of sunlight which such as Win¬ 
ter neilis and Passe colmar flourish in; and for that 
reason we advise the summer spray to be left a greater 
length in order to shade the fruit. 
Stone fruit. —Few directions need he given as to 
these ; almost every possessor of a garden, however 
limited, knows when to gather a peach, a plum, or a 
cherry. We may observe, however, that; double care 
is necessary in handling these tender things; as for 
peaches, it is almost impossible to place two layers 
in a basket without serious mischief. We gather in 
flat-bottomed baskets, placing a layer of soft “ rowen” 
hay (second or third cut) in the bottom of the basket 
—a single layer, as before observed—and these are 
carried at once to the fruit-room, where they are 
carefully placed on cap paper. It requires nice 
judgment to ascertain when a peach is lit to gather; 
many persons let them fall on a prepared bed of 
litter or hay. This, indeed, is the old plan, and cer¬ 
tainly not to he altogether condemned; we, however, 
prefer gathering them, relying on long experience, 
and depending much on the feel, as to whether they 
seem inclined to leave the tree when handled rightly. 
Colour is by no means a criterion ; very pale peaches 
are sometimes more ripe than those which are high 
coloured. 
Modes of Storing. —These are various. Tn former 
days it was deemed essential to ferment apples, by 
placing them in conical heaps covered up. We opine 
that few will follow this practice now. We are, in¬ 
deed, at a loss to conjecture what could have led to 
the practice ; for, as to keeping fruit, they perspire, in 
the main, too fast: it is this very perspiration which 
wars against the keeping properties. To be sure, a 
certain amount is, doubtless, necessary; probably 
they could not undergo the chemical change neces¬ 
sary in order to give them a full amount of flavour 
without a continuous action of the kind. Be that as 
it may, our main business with keeping fruit is to 
arrest this principle in degree, and to this end the 
fruit-rooms of modern times are not required to be 
so excessively dry as formerly; added to which, dark¬ 
ness is well known in these days to promote the 
keeping of many kinds of fruit. It appears that 
light acts in conjunction with an advance of tempe¬ 
rature in hastening the decay of fruit; and that even 
light alone, under all circumstances, has a tendency 
to promote perspiration or evaporation in vegetable 
tissue. 
A uniform temperature is essential, and that a low 
one: we should say a steady temperature of from 
40° to 50° is excellent as a general principle. Many 
of our Flemish pears, however, will not attain per¬ 
fection under this degree of cold, for such we must 
term it. For these pears a special provision must 
be made late in the autumn, of which we shall soon 
have more to say; in the meantime we take leave of 
fruit gathering by observing that the thinner apple 
or other stores are placed the better. When people 
throw them in heaps in these days, it may he con¬ 
sidered a matter of necessity; much, therefore, de¬ 
pends on the convenience the parties possess. We 
shall return to this subject in due time for farther 
operations. R. Errington. 
THE FLOWER-GARDEN. 
Routine Work. —At this season of the year the 
great object is to keep the flower garden well sup¬ 
plied with plants either in bloom or approaching to 
it. Whenever there aro vacancies, let them he filled 
up with such things as will flower this autumn. For 
this purpose it is good to have a reserve garden in 
some convenient place behind the main flower gar¬ 
den. The plants to fill up with should he kept in 
pots, and grown in them till they are nearly in 
flower, and then turned out of the pots, and planted 
in the beds or mixed flower borders in front of shrub¬ 
beries, or any vacant place. By following this me¬ 
thod the garden may be kept gay till frost comes and 
cuts them all down together. 
Scarlet Geraniums. —Should the plants in the 
