768
take it for m-antcd tliat tho fruit is perfectly r ip e ; unless tho tree bo sickly, which is
easily knoim by the leaves or frait being shrivelled. I f the foregoing observations arc
attended to, tho fruit will keep woU, and be plump ; and not shrivelled, as is the case
witli all fruit that is gathered before it is ripe.”
•inni Unr-ihnU savs “ cather pears of the summer sorts, ra the r before theya re ripe, as when thoroughly
, t h i ; e irm e aW i kept a day or two ; even when gathered as they ought to be, m a week ^
loss thev will becin to go a t the core. They should not, however, be gathered when they require tnuch
force to DuU them off. Autumn pears must also not be full ripe a t th e time of gathering, though they
w «111 i l l keep k e e p 7 longer o n g e r t h a n ......... th o s ......—-e o f t h e - summer.^ _ W. i n t e r p pIde e a amirta,r s
k\JeLK t.h..ecm O TfWla.t...i..n.J 7f -l--a--v---o--u-—r —undc . trees as they may, so as to escape Irost, which
, not keep well,
Geiierallv they may hang to th e m iddle of October full standards, a week longer on dwarfs, and to the
. . , r._ 11.- >,.,4 ,.„4 « « 4 .lOart 4K«tr
1 .?.ÎÎ4 7 L a «nH m hn/dlimr avoid ninching the fruit, or m any waybvuisrag it, as those wh ch
shaliow baskets.” — “ The jargonel
rots almost immediately.”
3002 With regard to the keeping o f orchard fruits, the old practice, and that recommended
by Mai-shall and Eorsyth, commences witli sweating. Nicol and most modem
E.ardcnors omit this process, and spread tho fruit thinly on shelves or the floor ot the
fruit-room. At the garden of the London Horticultural Society tho fruit is kept on
shelves. As to the keeping of apples, Mai'shall observes, “ those wluch continue long
for use should be suffered to hang late, even to November, if the frost will p e rm it; for
thev must bo well ripened, or they will shrink. Lay them in heaps tiU they have sweated
a few days, when they mnst be wiped dry. Let them then he singly, or at least thinly, for
about a fortnight, and be again wiped, and immediately packed in boxes and hampers,
lined with doiible or treble sheets of paper. Place them gently in, and cover t / m close,
so as to keep air out as much os possible. Preserve them from frost through the winter
Never use hay for the purpose. Some o fth e choicest sorts of table apples may be treated
as directed for the best pears.” i n
3003. Sweatmq and storing wintei' pears. -Winter pears, accordmg to Marshall,
“ should be laid in a d iy an y room, at first thinly for a few days, and then put them in
heaps to sweat; in order to which, a blanket tlwown over them will help. The fermentation
must be watched, and when it seems to have passed the height of sweating, wipe
the fruit quite dry gently with fine flannel, or clean soft linen, and store them carelnlly.
The storing is thus : those to be used first, lay by singly on shelves, or on the floor, in a
dry southern room, on clean dry moss, or sweet dry straw, so as not to torich one another.
Some or all the rest, having first lain a fortnight singly, and then nicely culled, ai-e to
be spread on shelves, or on a diy floor. But a superior way is, to pack m large earthen,
or china or stone jars, with very dry long moss or dried fern, at the bottom, sides,
and also between them, if it might be. Press a good coat of moss or fern on the top,
and then stop the mouth close with cork, or otherwise, which should be rosined round
with about a twentieth p ait of bees’ wax in it. As the object is effectually to keep out
air (the cause of putrefaction), the jars, if earthen, may be set on dry sand which put
also between, round, and over them, to a foot tliick on the top. In aU close storing,
observe there should be no doubt of the soundness of the frmt. Guard in time, from
frost, those that he open. Ja rs of frait must he soon used after iimealmg.”
3004 Sweating and storing apples and pears as practised by Forsyth. When tlie
fmit is earned to the fruit-room, lay someof the dry short grass on the floor, m the area
of the ro om ; then take the fruit gently out of the baskets, and lay it in heaps on ttie top
o fth e arass, keeping each sort in a separate h e a p ; the heaps may be from 2 tt. to 3 tt.
hiffh or according to the quantity of fruit that you have. Wlien the heaps are ccm-
pletcd, cover the tops at least 2 in. thick with short grass, in order to sweat them. Let
tliem lie a fortnight; then open the heaps and turn them over, wiping each apple or pear
with a dry woollen cloth, which should be frequently dried durmg the process, observing
now to lay in the middle the fruit which before was at the top. Let the heaps
now remain eight or ten days, covered as before ; by that time they will have tlwown out
the wateiy crudities wliich they may have imbibed duiing a wet season; then uncover
the heaps, and wipe the fmit carefully one by one, as before, picking out every one that
is iniurcd, or has the least spot, as unfit for keeping. During the time that the iriiit is
sweatino-, the windows should be left open, except in wet and foggy weather, to admit the
air to carry off the moisture which pcrspii-es from the fruit. The perspiration will sometimes
be so great, that, on putting youi- hand into the heap, it will come out as wet as it
it had been dipped into a pail of w a te r: when in this state, it will be necessary to turn
and wipe the fruit.”
3005 Tn laying u p fru it,th e common practice has been to lay it on clean w heat-straw;
serves that when any of th e fru it begins to decay, if it be not immediately picked out, the straw, by
iinhihinw th e moisture from th e decayed fruit, will become tainted, and communicate a disagreeable
™s“ to !h e “ The L u o n " shelves,'” he adds, “ should be turned two or three times durmg
A? A
B Side,
Vhon I
r feonie soft paper m the bottoms and round the edges of
D-iner • *and so no " Y Y V and over that anothi
ng t l i f f o / with L ‘7 ^ paper alternately, till the basket or hamper be fu ll: covortimes
double, to exclude the air and frost. a.s nmnuwchh anos p1.ossible.
X a label to each basket or
the
f e ; £ p r é t o r é i r é = r é ï h e ' S ü h S S S : ' / Î S A I S J Ï Ï L bemg h . mr use.
3006. But the best way o f keeping fruit is to pack it in glazed eartim jars. “ The
E L t o / fPfytely''™PP®ta «P in soft paper ; tlicn put a little wcll-drictl
t iï l bottom of the ja r and over the bran a layer of fru it; then a little more
fran to h i up Ü1C mtcrstices between the frait, and to cover it ; and so ou, a laver of
fl int and bran alternately, till the ja r ho full ; then shake it gently, which will make the
frait aud bran sink a little ; fill np the vacancy .at top with more bran, and lav some
paper over it, covering the top with a piece of bladder to exclude the air ; then ‘put ou
the top or cover of the jar, observing that it fits as closciy as possible. These jars sliould
be kept in a room where you can have a fire in wet or clamp weather.”
3007. M c f s opinion as to the sweating o f fn iU is thus given ; — “ I 'consider it an eiTOr
to sweat apples, as it is termed, previous to storing them, cither in tho common wav with
straw or hay, or, as rcconimondcd by Forsyth, by the nse of short grass. The frait ever
alter retains a bad flavour. I t should never be laid in iieaps at all ; but, if quite drv
wlicn gathered, should bo immediately carried to the frait-rooni, and be laid if not
singly, at least thin on tho shelves; the room being properly fitted up with shallow
Shelves on purpose, being wch aired, and having a stove in it, that damp may be dried
oil when necessary. He adds; “ if the finer fraits are placed on any thing else than a
clean shelf, It should bo on fine paper. Brown paper gives them a flavour of pitch. Tho
finer large kinds of pears should not he allowed ever to touch one another, hut should
bo laid single and distinct. Apples, and all pears, should be laid thin ; never tier above
tier. hVee n.ir .«hmili-l lio o/liviiff.wl +/» fbr. « ,
2veral
times
3008. Gathering and storing nuts. Walnuts arc generally beaten off the tirae witli poles-
but It cloes not a]ipcar that any harm would result to the fmit from leaving them to cfrop’
or be shaken off hy winds, or in part shaking them off. Sweating may he apiilicablc to
them m order to the more ready separation of the outer or soft skin from the liard shell
Ih is effected, they are to be spread thin till quite diy, when they may he preserved in
bins, or boxes, or heaps.
3009. Walnuts for keeping, Forsyth obseiwes, “ should be suffered to drop of themselves,
and aftenvards laid in an open aiiy place till they are thorouglily dried ; then
pack them m jars, bo.xes, or casks, with fine clean sand, that has been well dried in the
sun. 111 an oven, or before the fire, in layers of sand and walnuts alternately; set them
in a dry place, but not where it is too liot. In this manner, I have kept them good till
the latter end of April. Before you send them to taWo wipe the sand clean off; and if
you find that they have become slirivdlcd, steep tliem in milk and water for six or eight
hours before they arc used ; this wül make them plump and fine, and cause them to
peel easily.”
3010. The chestnut is to be treated hke the walnut, after tho liusk is removed, which
in tlie chestnut, opens of itself. Knight (Hort. Trans., vol. i. p. 247.) preserves chestnut!
and walnuts during the whole winter, by covering them with earth, as cottagers do
potatoes.
3011. Filberts may always be gathered by hand, and should afterwards be treated as
recommended for walnuts. Eorsyth recommends packing nuts, intended for keejiing
in jars or boxes of dry sand.
3012. Other fruits. The berberry, and cornel or dogwood berry, are used immediately,
when gathered, as presciwes. The medlar is not good till rotten ripe. It is generally
gathered in the beginning of November, and placed between two layers of straw, to forward
its maturation. “ Others,” Marshall obseiwcs, “ put medlars in a box, on à tkrec-
mch layer of fresh bran, moistened w d l with soft wai-m water ; then strew a layer of
straw between them, and cover with fruit 2 iu. thick ; which moisten also, but not
so wot as before.” In a ivcek or ton days after this operation, they will be fit for nsc.
Quinces are gathered in November, when they arc generally ripe. After sweating in
a heap for a few days, they arc to bo wiped dry, and placed on the fruit-shelf at sonic
distance from each other. Tho service or sorb apple never ripens on the tree in En g land.
IVlicre grown, it is gathered late in antumii, in a very austere state, and laid on
wheat-straw to decay. I t thus becomes eatable in a month.
3 D