PRESERVATION OF APPLES.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2220, 7 April 1881, Page 4

PRESERVATION OF APPLES.

[Melbourne “ Leader.”]

Ifc is well known that a very much higher price is obtained for Into apples than for those of any other season. Bat for various reasons only a small proportion of growers attempt to keep their fruit till the latter end of the season. One of the principal reasons is the absence of proper fruit rooms, or rather fruit cellars, far it is only in storehouses in which a low and regular temperature can be maintained that fruit can be preserved in a sound state to its longest term. Forty degrees of Fahrenheit may be considered the highest allowable temperature ; for water attains its greatest density at that degree, but the greatest density of the juice of fruit will not be reached till the temperature falls to forty ; and as the least evaporation must take place when the juice is the most dense, therefore a temperature ranging from a little above freezing to forty is the most desirable to aim at. Another principal reason is the loss of weight by decay and evaporation ; on these branches of the subject some conclusive experiments were made by Sorauor in Germany. He S' sod that while there is no longer any in men’s minds that light and warmth hod bettor be excluded in order that apples may be kept fresh and be hindered from becoming over ripe, there is still a wide diversity of opinion as to whether dry or damp air is most favorable to the preservation of the fruit. To test the question ho experimented upon several kinds of apples. Three separate lots of the apples having been weighed, one lot was spread on shelves in an ordinary fruit cellar, another lot was kept in air from which moisture bad been pretty thoroughly removed by means of chemicals, and the third lot in air that was completely saturated with moisture. On re-weighing the several lots after the lapse of some time, it was found that the apples kept in the air of the collar had lost per cent, of their weight; those kept in dry air almost 8 per cent.; while those kept in air saturated with moisture bad lost little more than ohe-half per cent. It could not be perceived that any advantage was gained by using the dry air. On the contrary, the apples kept in the dry air shrivelled more than the others, end manifestly ripened more rapidly, so that in the latter months of the experiment they were loss sweet than the others, and a larger portion of them decayed. Hot a few of them became rotten ripe, and this, in spite of the fact that, os was naturally to bo expected, rather lees mouldinesa appeared upon the fruit kept in the dr; air than upon that in in the air that was saturated with moisture. It was found to be true of apples when they were kept upon shelves in the cellar that they gave off more water by evaporation in a given time when they were green than the gave off afterwards as they became riper. Other experiments wore made to determine how much influence the natural varnish on the skin of apples has upon their preservation. To this end, the waxy covering was removed from a number of apples by gently rubbing them with a mixture of alcohol and ether, then washing them with a very much diluted potash lye, and finally with much water. It was found that apples thus treated lost five per cent, more of their weight by evaporation in a given time than apples which had been left in their natural condition and similarly stored. This experiment •hows the necessity for careful handling while gathering and storing the fruit. Experiments on sand-packing were also made, and it was found that not only was the sand better than chopped straw, but that the use of straw is not to be commended. Although there was no loss through decay in the apples packed in straw, nevertheless, shrivelled more than apples which wore lying free in the collar, and they acquired a musty taste from the straw as it became damp. The fruit packed in dry sand retained an uncommonly fresh appearance and excellent flavor, and promised to keep well. These lost only about half ns much water by evaporation as those which were lying free upon the shelves; they were almost wholly free from mouldincss, and when one of them happened to decay it did not infect the others. Even thoso that had been bruised did not decay any more rapidly than the sound fruit, provided that the skin had not been broken. Other apples were wrapped in tissue paper and compared with those loft uncovered, both in a dry chamber and in the cellar. No advantage was derived from the paper, except in the dry room, for in the cellar mould developed itself more rapidly upon the apples wrapped in paper than on those which were lying free. The conclusions arrived at were to keep the temperature so low that the fungi which cause decay cannot flourish, and to have the air of the room moist enough to hinder the fruit from shrivelling, IE the store house were worm, moisture would doubtless bo injurious, since the conditions would be favorable to the propagation of fungi, but if the room be cold enough to hold the fur gi in chock, moisture will do good rather than harm.

Those valuable and evidently well conducted experiments clearly show the course that should be followed by fruit growers. That fruit placed on the shelves, or even packed in cases in ordinary fruit rooms, built above ground and exposed to all the changes of moisture and temperature, loses weight, and presently ripens—which is the beginning of decay—is known and felt by nearly all growers. The remedy for the deterioration

being made clearly apparent, everyone whoso orchard is his own should set about improving his accommodation by the formation of a fruit cellar, which may bo either under the dwelling-house or other building, or, if that is not convenient, dug out of the ground and the roof covered with thatch, or an arch or brick covered with soil. In this case either a drain must be carried from the bottom of tho collar to a lower level, or a well and a pump must bo introduced. Another excellent plan, where it can be effected, is to mako an excavation in the side of the hill, if facing the south all tho better. In such a cellar the apples might be kept in bulk in bins till the highest prices obtained. Of course great care should be taken in gathering and selecting fruit for storing, and the last-mentioned experiment, that of preserving tho bloom, should be also carefully imitated.