HOW TO KEEP WINTER APPLES.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2195, 9 March 1881, Page 3

HOW TO KEEP WINTER APPLES.

To keep any variety of apples in good condition as long ns possible, says [an American contemporary, the apples should bo gathered as soon as mature ; that is before any of that variety that are sound begin to drop, and place them at once where they will be us cold as possible—as near the freezing point as possible j not too many in a bulk, not over o barrel in one package, and kept at a temperature as uniformly low us possible. A cellar in early autumn is about the worst fjluoo one can store apples in ; a well-venti-atod out-house is the best place to store them in, such as cun bo thrown open to the cold night air, and closed during the heat of the day, and in it they should remain until quite severe weather, merely covered from the air. In the meantime the collar should bo left thoroughly open for ventilation until it becomes cold, before the apples are stored therein, then it should bo kept as nearly as possible at the freezing point all winter. If we carefully bear in mind that heat ripens apples and pears, and that cold retards the ripening, wo will have fewer rotten apples. Also, it we wish good fine-flavourud fruit, we must keep the fruit in pure sweet air ; therefore the collar should bo carefully cleansed and deodorised before the apples are placed therein. A musty barrel or box will spoil the flavour of fruit. Varieties that begin to drop early from the trees should bo gathered first, and at once placed whore they will keep cold. Those that mature late, and those that hang on the trees late, can be gathered, and at once placed in new sweet barrels, headed up, and placed whore they will bo continually cold. This is perhaps the best way to handle the late keepers. If wo could continuously keep ■such a barrel of apples in a temperature of thirty degrees above zero, the apples would keep an almost unlimited time.