GATHERING AND MANAGEMENT OF APPLES. 307 



by three feet square, or it may be only two feet square, 

 made of inch boards, without top or bottom. One side is 

 left open, as represented, to be closed by one or two doors 

 in front. The height may be two, four, or six feet. -Cleats 

 are then screwed to two sides about two inches apart, to 

 support the drying-screens, which are made similar to the 

 sieves of a fanning - mill. Wire - cloth for making the 

 screens can be obtained in rolls of any desired length and 

 width at extensive hardware stores in large cities. If the 

 cupboard is made two by three feet square, wire-cloth two 

 feet wide can be procured and cut to fit the length* of 

 the frames, and a piece nailed to each frame, as represented 

 Fig 124. ky Fig. 124. The frame-work of the screens 

 may be made of almost any kind -of wood 

 dressed out smoothly, say one inch by one inch 

 and a quarter square, and the corners mitred, 

 glued, and nailed together, before the wire-cloth 

 is fastened to the frames. Coarse canvas may be 

 employed in lieu of wire-cloth. Yet wire will be found far 

 superior, as the circulation of warm air upward through the 

 wire meshes will be much more rapid than through canvas. 

 The screens should be about two inches apart. Then, in a 

 cupboard four feet high, there would be about twenty-four 

 screens, furnishing, in the aggregate, an area of scaffolding 

 equal to 144 square feet. When the dryer is to be used 

 for drying fruit of any sort, place it over any kind of stove, 

 a little above it, so that the heated air will rise directly up- 

 ward through the meshes of the screens, and thus convey 

 rapidly away the moisture from the fruit. In the course 

 of a few hours, with a few dimes' worth of fuel, all the 

 fruit that could be spread on the screens would be dried in 

 the neatest manner. If the fruit at the bottom were to dry 

 more rapidly than that on the upper screens, they can be 

 changed in a moment. All steaming, stewing, and baking 



