(6) The following is an economical method of making small ice-houses indoors:—Dig a hole in a cool cellar, and make it of a size corresponding to the quantity of ice to be kept. At the bottom of this hole dig another of smaller diameter, the edge of which goes down with a gentle slope. This kind of small pit, the depth of which should be greater in proportion as the soil is less absorbent, must be filled with pebbles and sand. The whole circumference of the large hole is to be fitted up with planks, kept up along the sides with hoops, to prevent the earth from falling in. Then the bottom and all the circumference of this sort of reservoir must be lined with rye straw, placed upright with the ear downwards, and kept up along the planks by a sufficient number of wooden hoops. The ice is to be heaped up in this ice-house, which must be covered over with a great quantity of hay and packing cloth, on which should be placed a wooden cover and some light straw. (Les Mondes.)
(b) Storing Foods without change.—This embraces the keeping of fruits, roots, eggs, &c.
To have a fruit room in a garden does not always argue that the fruit stored in it will be well preserved. Such a store-house is of the first importance; but, unless care is observed, and some special attention given to the different kinds of fruit it may contain, much loss is likely to be the consequence. As to the structure itself, it is sufficient to say here that it should be perfectly dry, and so constructed as to maintain an equable temperature at all times. An ice house, if dry, makes a good fruit room—without the ice, of course—for a fruit room, once the fruit is placed in it, does not require much ventilation, unless it can be given without altering the temperature. Heats and cools, alternately producing condensation and evaporation, soon produce decay and rottenness, and should be guarded against as much as possible; the fruit should always feel dry to the touch. Possibly, the very best position that an apple or pear, for example, could be placed in, to preserve it, would be to suspend it by the footstalk in the air, and free from contact with any other object. Onions done up in strings in the old-fashioned way invariably keep much better than those laid on shelves or on a floor, and it is the same with fruit. Fruit rooms which are above ground should be double-walled, and ceiled; but when sunk or partially sunk in the ground this is not so important, if damp is otherwise excluded. Hardy fruits and grapes are often kept long and well in a fruit room that is more like a cellar (only dry) than anything else.
The shelves and tables for holding the fruit should be sparred, and before the fruit is stored they should be covered with a layer of clean wheat straw, but so thinly that one can see through between the spars of the shelves, which will allow a free circulation of air amongst the fruit. When the room is empty during the summer-time, it should be thoroughly ventilated, washed and dried, and made sweet and clean, and, when the fruit is stored, shut up and kept in darkness.
A writer in the Field expresses himself thus:—The easiest and best method of keeping fruit, and one practised for years, is simply to take ordinary wine cases, halves and quarters, as different sizes are handy, line the bottoms well with short sweet hay, and take them on a hand-barrow to the orchard. There the fruit should be laid carefully in them, taken at once to the fruit room, and placed on close-bottomed shelves. Under such circumstances it will keep until April, and even until June in sand. The greatest care is used in the picking and handling of the fruit. It may be thought that, when in single layers, fruit is more easily examined, and decaying fruit cleared away; but from many years’ experience in storing fruit in barrels and boxes, only a small quantity is lost by decay or wilting. Nor is such vigilance required in the way of periodical gleanings as some would believe. The very act of searching for such is inimical to the good keeping of the rest, as we cannot see the side farthest from us; consequently the fruits have to be handled, and the oftener this is done the sooner will the bloom—the best safeguard to keeping—get rubbed off. In boxes this is avoided. Simply commence using from the top, and go on until the bottom is reached; and not only does the fruit come out clear and clean-skinned, but as sound and firm as when put away. (J. K.)
Apples and Pears.—(a) When the fruit room cannot hold all the crop, it should only be used for the best sample, which should be gathered without bruising, and spread out on the shelves in a single layer, and barely touching each other. In plentiful seasons the different varieties are often piled up in hillocks, on the shelves and floors, to the destruction of large quantities of the fruit; for it is not possible to keep fruit long in that condition, and it soon becomes rotten and useless. In most establishments the wants of the kitchen and dessert can be judged very nearly; and such being the case, it is far better to dispose of the fruit which cannot be used at home, and keep and care for a supply of the better dessert and kitchen fruit only. In many establishments it is the custom, in plentiful seasons, to store all the crop in a house that was never intended to accommodate it, and throughout the autumn and winter preservation consists principally in picking out the rotten fruit periodically, and wheeling it to the pigsty or the rubbish heap. It would be better to have given it away for nothing at the beginning. Such waste is simply disgraceful; but it is what happens in many large private gardens. Apples and pears soon decay and rot if they are carelessly stored, but it is surprising how long even the so-called worst-keeping varieties can be preserved with a little care. Apples of the Codling and Lord Suffield class, and pears like the Jargonelle and Hessel, or “hogel,” as it is called in the north, are not supposed to keep many days; but they will keep nevertheless for a considerable time if they are not piled up in heaps like potatoes. Codling apples, indeed, will keep till they become insipid and flavourless without showing signs of decay. In some cases it is necessary to keep the fruit in store till it can be disposed of advantageously; and when that is so, and it cannot be accommodated in the fruit room proper, it should be stored in a dry loft or shed, and covered over with dry straw to protect from the vicissitudes of the weather. Common fruit laid up in heaps in this way soon ripens and turns yellow, but does not keep.
(b) Where there is no room for storing apples in the usual way, they may be treated as follows: All the later keeping sorts, after being picked and laid out thinly in a room, may be stored in a pit, the same as potatoes. Mark out the pit 3 ft. wide and 9 in. in depth; put a layer of clean straw in the bottom. Commence at one end with the latest keeping sorts, and make them into a ridge about 2 ft. high in the centre; put a layer of straw between the sorts to keep them from getting mixed; then take the next sort, and so continue with the latest until the whole is finished. A covering of dry turves or straw must then be put over the whole, and this must be covered with soil, the same as is generally done with potato pits. Blenheims keep in this way in very fine condition till the middle of January, and later keeping sorts according to their times of ripening. When pitting the fruit, great care must be taken to pick out all that are bruised or damaged. Faults of this kind will be readily seen after 9-12 days from the time when the fruits are gathered. Bruised apples soon rot, and cause others to do the same; but, if carefully stored, scarcely one will be found decayed when taken from the pits, if taken out about the time they are generally ripe. (W. C.)
Artichokes.—Boil as many artichokes as you intend to keep, only just enough to be able to pull off all the leaves and choke: lay the bottoms on a tin plate, and put them in the oven. When thoroughly dry, and quite hard, put them in a paper bag, and hang them in a dry place. Before using they must be soaked in warm water for 3-4 hours, changing the water very often. Let the last water be boiling hot, the bottoms will then be very tender, and eat as well as fresh ones.
Asparagus.—Boil fresh-gathered, well-scraped asparagus for 5 minutes in salted water. Strain off the water, dip them in cold water and drain on a cloth; put them in tins with the points all one way. Have an ironmonger ready to solder on the lids immediately; when the solder is cold put the tins in a cauldron of water and boil for 1½ hour. Keep them with the points of the asparagus upwards. It is better to mark the top of the tin to prevent their being reversed.
Cherries.—These can only be successfully preserved on the tree, and then only when the trees are grown against walls or as espaliers. On standards it is almost impossible to keep them from the birds, except by much trouble and expense. Early cherries can be preserved a month or more after they are ripe by covering the trees with mats, and keeping them quite dark. The trees do not suffer so much by this practice as one would imagine, although the leaves fall off prematurely, owing no doubt to the wood being pretty well matured before the fruit is ripe; but it is not advisable to cover the same trees every year in succession. Morello cherries of course keep best when grown on a north wall, and it is hardly necessary to mat them; but they must be netted to keep off vermin.