Secretary's Budget. 407 



powder was used upon the cabbages, and the labor did not exceed 

 one ancl a half hours per week. The powder can be bought at any 

 druggist's, retailing at fifty to sixty cents per pound. It would 

 doubtless prove effective in destroying many other insects which 

 prey upon vegetation. It is one of the best destroyers of bed bugs, 

 lice on stock of all kinds, including chickens, sheepticks, etc. For 

 such purposes it is best applied dry. Druggists keep and sell a 

 little blower with which to use it in its dry state. If applied to 

 animals the hair, wool or feathers should be parted and the powder 

 applied directly to the skin by the blower. When a chicken house 

 has become infested with lice it is too often ditticult to eradicate 

 them, on account of the many cracks in which they harbor. But 

 with the blower the powder can be introduced everywhere, making 

 a thorough renovation of the premises, as the writer can testify 

 from an experience he had a few years ago. — Farmer h Review. 



FACTS CONCERNING FRUIT EVAPORATION. 



From the American Garden we take the following :. 



"In any process of evaporation the great desideratum is the 

 application of intense heat in the first stage of drying, except in 

 the case of grajies and similar fruits, where extreme heat will 

 burst the skin and allow the juice to floSv out — as the great heat 

 will, by affecting the outer surface of the substance, form an im- 

 penetrable external coating, thus retaining the flavor and other 

 desirable qualities of the fruit. 



The best arrangement, and indeed the only proper one, is to 

 subject the material to a continuous current of hot air. This cur- 

 rent cannot be made hot enough to scorch or burn the fruit, if it 

 be kept in brisk motion ; but let it become stagnant for a short 

 time and the product will undoubtedly be ruined by the intense 

 heat. 



Raspberries we have found to be very profitable, as three quarts 

 of the fresh fruit yield one pound of the evaporated, and this has a 

 ready sale at thirty-seven cents per pound. So, in case the market 

 price for fresh berries is down, it is an easy matter to put them in 

 such a shape that we can command better figures. 



Corn, properly evaporated, makes a dish fully equal to that 

 just cut from the cob, at a cost of about fifteen cents per pound. 

 Half a pound is sufficient for a family meal. 



Pumpkins also make a good article, when evaporated — fully 

 equal to fresh ones for making pies, thus extending tlie pie season 

 through the entire year. 



