178 FLORIDA FRUITS tYUAVAS AND BANANAS. 



box, twenty inches deep and wide, and about six feet in 

 length, such as is used for shipping tall nursery trees, and 

 a small stove. 



The hogshead is placed on end and a door sawed out of 

 the side to admit the stove ; a hole eighteen inches square 

 is then made in the top of the hogshead to allow the 

 heat from the stove to pass up into the box, which is 

 stood upright over the hole, the lower end being knocked 

 out, and is carefully fitted down on the hogshead, so that 

 none of the ascending heat shall escape. A hole, sur- 

 rounded by tin, is made in the side of the hogshead, oppo- 

 site the stove, through which to pass the stove-pipe, so that 

 none of the smoke can ascend into the box. 



That which would be the lid of the box if it were on 

 the ground, is fitted on hinges so as to open like a door, 

 thus giving easy access to the interior, which is fitted with 

 open sliding shelves, resting on cleats about three inches 

 apart, one above the other. These shelves should be of 

 wood, with numerous small holes perforated in them, or 

 better still, of stout galvanized wire netting. 



Place the fruit to be dried, cut in strips, on these shelves, 

 close the door, which must fit as tightly as possible, keep 

 up a gentle fire in the stove, and in ten or twelve hours 

 you will have as sweet a dried fruit as you ever tasted, and 

 the cheapest, too, by far, but perhaps not the handsomest 

 looking. 



Guavas dried in this way can be preserved for home use 

 all through the non-bearing season, or shipped to jelly or 

 marmalade factories without risk, and at a much less ex- 

 pense as regards freight than if the ripe fruit were shipped 

 in its natural state. 



Guavas, if well cultivated and moderately fertilized, 

 bear fruit in eighteen months from the seed ; they are also 

 easily raised from layers or slips. 



