North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Jim Fruth" <jimfruth@charter.net>]

   A friend of mine sent me this email wondering if any of these methods 
for storing apples actually works.  What do you think?

Jim  -Last fall, I picked up an old book in German at a neighbors garage 
sale. The title "Der Praktische Rathgeber", means: "the practical advice 
giver" and it was printed in Milwaukee, WI in 1877. It contains info on 
hundreds of subjects from A to Z for pioneer settlers in the USA. Since my 
wife always gets baskets of apples from the orchard on her folks farm, I 
found an article about preserving apples interesting and am sending you my 
translation of that section to find out whether or not you think those 
methods were actually successful. Three different methods were given under, 
"Preserving Apples":
1.  Stick the apples in a grain bin.
2.  In a vessel with an airtight cover, layer apples in tempered sand, 
without touching each other.  (?what is tempered sand?)
3.  Fill a clean tub or wooden vessel, within several inches from the top, 
with apples. Cover the apples with sprigs of juniper and place some narrow 
boards over them, close enough so no apples can get between. Crosswise over 
those boards, place another board with a rock on top of it, to hold 
everything down. Fill the container with enough clean well water to cover 
the first layer of boards. These apples stay in this water until the nest 
spring or later. If apples are taken out a few at a time, take care not to 
remove all the boards nor reach in the water with your hand, but spear the 
apple out with a fork.


Does that make any sense?

Jim Fruth
Pequot Lakes, MN