146 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, December 7, 1858. 
as far as I know, assume that condition in a very low 
temperature. 
I think that there can scarcely be a better room than mine 
for general purposes. But some of the latest Pears never 
become thoroughly melting, especially such as the Beurre 
Ranee and Ne Plus Meuris. I think it is proved beyond 
dispute, that some kinds of Pears will not ripen as they 
ought to do in a very low temperature. They may thus 
be kept a longer time than usual, by being excluded from 
the air, in jars, &c. But, although they may astonish by 
their fresh appearance, on the exhibition table, they will 
seldom gratify the palate. Now we find, that most of 
our autumn Pears which ripen out of doors, or nearly so, 
are generally satisfactory. Look at the Marie Louise, 
which is generally all but ripe when gathered; and under 
what temperature has it existed during the end of Septem¬ 
ber and early part of October ? Why, an average of 
about 60°. Under such conditions it has become so far 
changed in character, that a fortnight in a dry room, and 
it is fit for table,—changed from a dull green into a rich 
golden yellow. But the Beurre Ranee, in a cold fruit- 
room, lies for months in a temperature of some 35° to 40°. 
This old shed, then, had to be made into a fruit room; 
and I had made up my mind, after watching the course of 
events, to lower the lloor, and to go down three steps, or 
twenty-one inches, into the room. I accordingly had the 
floor lowered that much, and, from being a Mushroom- 
shed, it soon became a capital fruit room, which it still 
remains. By the bye, I have seen the finest crop of 
Mushrooms in that shed I ever saw in my life, and that 
in the months of January and February. 
I had one foot in depth of clay puddled carefully 
down before paving, in order to prevent the too rapid 
ascent of underground damps ; and it has had the 
effect I intended. And why should not a Beurre Ranee 
enjoy as warm an air as a Marie Louise, when under¬ 
going the change which commences the ripening pro¬ 
cess ? I do not mean to affirm, that all Pears of 
necessity demand exactly similar conditions ; but this I 
will urge, that, beyond all doubt, there is a critical period 
in all fruits, when a change, chemical or otherwise, com¬ 
mences in the juices, and that this change demands 
special conditions. If the conditions under which they 
are placed are adverse to such change,—to say nothing 
about facilitating it,—I am persuaded that the course of 
nature becomes perverted, and disappointment in flavour 
and texture is the consequence. 
I find Pears to keep well on shelves with close lids to 
them, and, of course, in drawers which fit close also. If 
I were going to build fruit rooms for myself, I would 
have one just under the conditions that I before de¬ 
scribed,—a cool one; and a second smaller, with a hot- 
water pipe all round the exterior. Each should have a 
separate stand for Pears, in drawers ; but the one in the 
warm room should be, in part, a skeleton stand, to receive 
on any occasion any one, two, or more, of the drawers from 
the cold room, and which should, of course, be made to 
fit either place. The Pears, being carefully placed, when 
gathered, in the drawers in the cold room, in samples, 
and quantities adapted to the demand likely to occur, 
might be removed without any handling at any time. Our 
readers, no doubt, know, that handling much is fatal to 
many of our finer-skinned Pears, after they begin to turn 
for ripening. 
There can be no doubt, that a deprivation of light, 
at least partial, is of importance to the long keeping 
of fruits; but the exclusion of air is of more impor¬ 
tance still, or else why do fruits keep so long packed 
in jars, &c. ? Apples, too, have been known to keep a 
long time pitted as Potatoes, but I beg again to repeat 
my conviction, that in proportion as we take such extra 
means to prolong these composts of the dessert table, so, 
in like proportion, we war against both flavour and texture; 
at least, such has most frequently been the result, and 
such is, I believe, a very common impression. We all 
know that many Apples, as also some Pears, are liable to 
a rusty kind of fungus on the skin, which produces 
a similar effect on them to the rust on iron, eating 
stealthily its way in, and greatly injuring the fruit. I 
have long proved, to my satisfaction, that two conditions 
conjointly are averse to the production, or spread, of this 
fungus—viz., dryness and darkness. Now, I do hold, 
that in proportion as a cool fruit room is low in tem¬ 
perature, so in proportion should it be dry, and this is a 
condition not very easily obtained. We have heard of 
fruit rooms cut out of the solid rock, and that the interior, 
whilst cool, was dry enough for a parlour ; but not every¬ 
one can avail himself of such a condition. The carefully 
puddled clay is the safest plan where bottoms are damp 
and porous ; and if the flooring could be placed over this 
without contact, the bottom would be equal, in my 
opinion, to the rock. But then there are the sides and 
roof of the building: these have more to do with the 
question of heat than of moisture. Double walls, with a 
cavity of a few inches, are, doubtless, the best for the 
sides; and, as to roof, if no story above the fruit room, 
why give me a thick coating of thatch, old fashioned as it 
is. The great business is, that the temperature be pretty 
even : great fluctuations are averse to long keeping in 
fruits. Then, with a foot deep of close clay beneath,— 
a very inert body as compared with lighter materials; 
double walls at the sides, well known as non-conduc¬ 
tors ; and a thatched roof, as great a non-conductor ; and 
the base, or floor, of the room about half a yard below 
the ordinary outside level, with every provision for ward¬ 
ing off, or collecting, rains, snows, and their consequences, 
—we have, I think, all the chief essentials for long keeping. 
One thing I forgot to name in its place, the propriety of 
having double shutters to the windows. This is particu¬ 
larly necessary in severe winter weather. I consider 
that, from November to March, a temperature of about 
40°, as near as possible, would bo most desirable for the 
cool room : freezing should be out of the question. 
But we may now come to the question of how Apples, 
Pears, &c., should be managed from the time they enter 
the room. Young beginners may fairly be puzzled at 
the advice sometimes offered, of giving lots of air to the 
fruit room for some time after gathering, and of keeping 
them from the air after a given period. Now, in all this, 
there must, of necessity, be a transition state; and the 
question for a novice would be, where does the ventilation 
question end. It is a well-known fact, that all fruits and 
all roots sweat much when they are first housed, and that 
this sweating is prejudicial to the skin of the fruits if 
confined. In former days, it was thought the best of 
practice to pile the fruit in heaps, to make them sweat, 
and after a few weeks to wipe them all, and there could 
scarcely be a worse practice. Indeed, as to keeping fruits, 
the main thing is, to prevent them sweating as much as 
possible. But they will do so, more or less, and this 
sweating decreases progressively until about the end of 
November, when it becomes no longer a consideration. 
During this sweating period we are obliged to ventilate, 
in order to disperse damps, and to prevent the aroma 
from various fruits corrupting, which it would do if long 
confined. But, as the sweating decreases we gradually 
decrease the ventilation; and by the middle, or end, of 
November, we are in a position to dispense with it, un¬ 
less on special occasions, to dispel damp. If much venti¬ 
lation be allowed after this period, the sure consequence 
will be a premature shrivelling of the Apples. 
I need scarcely urge, that cleanliness is almost as 
necessary in a fruit room as in a dairy. The shelves 
should be looked over once a-week, and all decaying 
fruit removed. In storing fruit in the autumn, it is 
unwise policy to place the whole gathering of any fruit 
together. There are always some small, inferior, or 
specky, fruit, which are of little value, and which are, 
generally, the likeliest to breed corruption ; these are, 
by far, best by themselves. Besides, they derogate 
