t disturbance of the remainder.

5. Warmth and moisture are the conditions most favorable to
decomposition, and should be especially guarded against.

6. The best temperature for keeping fruit is about 34 deg. F., or 2 deg.
above freezing.

Another method which is highly recommended is to sprinkle a layer of
sawdust on the bottom of a box, and then put in a layer of apples, not
allowing them to tough each other. Upon this pack more sawdust; then
another layer of apples, and so on until the box is filled. After
packing, place up from the ground, in a cellar or storeroom, and they
will keep perfectly, retaining their freshness and flavor until brought
out. The _Practical Farmer_ gives the following rough but good way to
store and keep apples: "Spread plenty of buckwheat chaff on the barn
floor, and on this place the apples, filling the interstices with the
chaff. Cover with the chaff and then with straw two or three feet deep.
The advantage of this is that covering and bedding in chaff excludes
cold, prevents air currents, maintains a uniform temperature, absorbs
the moisture of decay, and prevents the decay produced by moisture."

The ordinary cellar underneath the dwelling house is too warm and damp
for the proper preservation of fruit, and some other place should be
provided if possible. A writer in the _American Agriculturist_ thus
calls attention to an additional reason why fruit should not be stored
beneath living-rooms: "After late apples are stored for the winter, a
gradual change begins within the fruit. It absorbs oxygen from the air
of the room, and gives off carbonic acid gas. Another change results in
the formation of water, which is given off as moisture. The taking up of
oxygen by the fruit and the giving off of carbonic acid, in a short time
so vitiates the atmosphere of the room in which the fruit is kept, that
it will at once extinguish a candle, and destroy animal life. An
atmosphere of this kind tends to preserve the fruit. There being little
or no oxygen left in the air of the room, the process of decay is
arrested. Hence it is desirable that the room be air tight, in order to
maintain such an atmosphere."

The production of carbonic acid shows that a cellar in or under a
dwelling, is an improper place for storing fresh fruit. When the gas is
present in the air in sufficient proportion, it causes death, and a very
small quantity will cause headache, listlessness, and other unpleasant
effects. No