MOISTURE AND FRUIT PRESERVATION.

Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1645, 20 January 1883, Page 3

MOISTURE AND FRUIT PRESERVATION.

General J. H. Shields, of Los Angelos, sends us apples of the Pearmain and another variety, sound as on the day they left the treeinlSSl, and promising to remain sound many day — probably till the first of July. The apples were raised in Shields canon, in the Sierra Madre range, twelves miles as the bird flies north of the City of Los Angelos, California. They were kept in barrels in a tunnel through a side ridge of the capon, cut to connect its reservoirs' and zanjas with the zanjas of another and appurtenant canOu. Buckets of water were poured into the barrels every week or two for some months after the apples wcie gathered. The watering was discoutinued some two months since, as the apples being nearly all marketed, the remmaut was no longer an object of solicitude. The water flowed down through the apples and out auger-holes in the bottoms of the barrels. The apples scut are of a neglected and almost forgotten remnant keeping into summer, and may probably be called chance survivors. General Shields, it will be remembered, in his correspondence witli the State Horticultural Society, published in the Rural Press, mentioned the case of apples keeping far into the spring under the tree where they had fallen, and with no other protection than fallen leaves. This remarkable case is personally known to Judge R. R aney and other citizens of Florence, in whose vicinity the apples were discovered among the leaves under the tree. Here is a suggestive parallel : — In the one case showers watered the apples at intervals; in the other, buckets. In tlie one case the apples were upon the damp earth among damp leaves ; in the other damp apples among damp apples, in damp barrels in a damp tunnel. The question now is : What more can our fruit-growers tell us about humidity as proinotirc of the fresh life and long-keep-ing of fruit. Let us have the light of every expenence upon this very important subject. While we are at it, let us have all experiences of all methods of keeping every kind of fruit that is capable of having its freshness prolonged. We call attention to the subject as one of xevenue, health, and pleasiue. An object of one in giving valuable experiences of the public is to make himself a creditor of the public, fairly expecting payment in -other published experiences. — I'aajic JRuial Fiat,.