Floor.—The best possible floor is the natural earth—paved surfaces are apt to become too dry. The latest sorts should be stored on the lowest shelf.
Names.—Provide slips of zinc 4 inches long, turn up one end 1 inch, at an angle of 45°, and then slit this angle three times, and bend it so that it will hold a neat card; the other end can be slipped under the straw.
From their fruit-house, constructed on these lines, Messrs. Bunyard have put up 80 dishes of fresh clean apples at the Temple Shows at the end of May.
Pears.—If pears constitute the bulk of the store, the fruit-house should be rather drier and rather warmer than in the case of apples. In either case, the winter temperature should not fall below 40° F., and the summer temperature should not rise above 60° F.
A very convenient method of storing apples and pears is in flat trays, such as those known as Orr’s, of which Mr. White, of Bedford, holds the patent rights. The fruit is placed direct in these as picked from the tree, and the trays are carried to the fruit-house as fast as they are filled.
Medlars should be picked in November, preferably after the frost has touched them. Their stalks should be dipped in strong lime, and the fruits buried in boxes of wet bran, no two medlars touching, and placed in the fruit-house.
LEE’S STEAM FRUIT PRESERVING APPARATUS
Walnuts should be removed from their outer rinds, and at once placed in an earthen jar. Cover them with three inches of sawdust, and place them in a cool cellar or fruit-house.
Filberts, Cobs and Hedge Nuts, for storing, should be gathered just before they slip their husks—though they must be so ripe as to do so at the slightest force. They should be dried before storing, or the husks will become mouldy. They may then be treated as advised for walnuts, or they may be placed in a jar and sprinkled over with salt.