A STORE-ROOM for apples and pears should be cool, though frost-proof,
slightly moist, and well ventilated, though free from draughts.
Adjacent apples should not be in contact with each other. If very
choice, it is wise to wrap each apple in tissue paper. The fruit should
be hand-picked, and placed in the store-room when quite dry, and any
specimens that show signs of rottenness should be removed directly they
are recognized.
Messrs. Bunyard, of Maidstone, have built some fruit-houses which
admirably fulfil the desired conditions. The following instructions for
erecting a similar storehouse are given by Mr. George Bunyard.
First level the soil and dig out holes for the corners large enough
to admit brick piers 14 inches by 14 inches, or stones about 1
foot square; fix an iron dowel in the centre to receive the corner
posts of the structure. Some provision for air (air-bricks), or an
aperture covered outside and inside with perforated zinc, should be
provided just above the ground line, and if over 20 feet long an extra
foundation should be put in at the half distance to hold another
support.
Make the main posts 6 feet long, 6 inches square, and prepare a hole
in the foot to receive the dowel mentioned above. This will keep the
framework firm. The main ground plate should be 4½ inches by 3 inches,
and the top plate of the same size. Support and steady in the usual way
with quartering 4½ inches by 3 inches, and when this is fixed, choose a
dry day, and pitch, tar, or cold creosote the lower plates and all the
woodwork 2 feet from the ground to protect from damp: this quartering
should show an even outside face to secure the matchboard.
The cheapest material for the outside covering will be ¾-inch
matchboard, and it may as well be fixed outside the rafters as well.
Pitchboard 4½ inches by 1 inch, rafters 3 inches by 2 inches.
_Inside Bonds_ from one side to the other, 4½ inches by 3 inches. If
stout they are useful to hold planks, on which baskets can be placed
overhead in the roof, space. In order to receive the side thatch, a
board is attached round the door-plates and at the corners, 6 inches
wide, from the ground to eaves, in which the thatch is placed upright,
and it is kept in position by lateral splines of wood 3 inches by 1
inch.
_The Roof Thatch_ may be 18 inches thick on the roof and 6 inches at
the sides, and where it can be procured, carex or reed is strongest and
most lasting, but it may be of wheat straw or heather. The thatch at
the sides should be 6 inches thick.
Both an inside and outside door should be provided, and they must be
made to fit closely to exclude draughts.
[Illustration: A FRUIT-ROOM.]
[Illustration: ORR’S TRAYS FOR STORING FRUIT]
In order that one may readily inspect the fruit, windows of 21-ounce
glass are inserted, and this saves the use of a candle at storing time;
but outside shutters must be provided to keep the place as dark as
possible, and a fruit-house is perhaps better without windows.
_Ventilation_ is provided by an opening under the apex of roof at each
end, 18 inches by 8 inches, a small opening being left between the
dairy shutters, which can be stopped by hay or moss in severe weather,
and inside opening should be protected by perforated zinc, fine enough
to keep out wasps and flies; another ventilator should be inserted
about midway under the lowest shelf, to open from outside by a shutter,
being covered inside by perforated zinc.
To protect the contents from rats, a ½-inch stout wire netting should
be fastened to the matchboard outside beneath the thatch, so that an
entry would be difficult.
_Inside Shelves_ on which to lay the fruit are readily fixed at the
sides. First place uprights 2 inches by 1½ inch from the ground to the
rafters, and then attach bearers 2 inches by ¾ inch on this to the
quartering; 1 foot between the shelves is a very convenient distance,
the lowest shelf being placed 6 inches from the ground, making six all
up to the eaves. The shelves are made of ¾-inch matchboard, should not
quite meet each other by ¼ inch, so as to gain a slight circulation of
air; upon this place lengths of clean wheat straw, so that the fruit
shall not touch the wooden shelves. In the centre of the fruit-house a
narrow table with a raised edge made of lengths of matchboard, set on
trestles, is useful to set up exhibition collections or to show special
samples. Baskets of fruit can be set under this for early use.
_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.
_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.
_Gathering and Drying Herbs._—Herbs should usually be picked just
before they flower, and, their roots having been cut off, they should
be tied into bundles and quickly sun-dried. These bundles may then be
tied in paper bags and hung in a dry room, or they may be powdered and
bottled. Lavender should be cut as soon as the flowers are fully open.
It should then be dried in the shade, and stored in a dry room.
[Illustration: LEE’S STEAM FRUIT PRESERVING APPARATUS]