90 



advantage in blowing oyer your vegetables air which is al 

 ready saturated with moisture, but if you have an arrange- 

 ment for heating the air you may dry very rapidly in that 

 way. There are a number of ingenious contrivances which 

 will suggest themselves to the housewife who has electricity 

 in her home. Drying by artificial heat opens up many uses 

 for equipment which every home has without the expendi- 

 ture of any money at all. Your range or gas oven may be 

 utilized to verj^ good advantage for this work always leav- 

 ing the door open for the escape moisture. Remember the 

 oven is made for cooking and that is what you do w!hen you 

 close the door, but if you leave the door open you will have a 

 circulation and dry very nicely. The one thing to be very 

 careful about in oven drying is not to have too high a tern 

 perature. The temperature should never oo over 160 de- 

 grees and it is best to begin the drying as low as 120. I 

 believe the only way to be absolutely sure of your tempera- 

 ture is with a thermometer. I have heard people say they 

 could tell the temperature of the oven with their hands, but 

 I am sure it is not a very sure test and T should hesitate to 

 depend upon it. However if you have a thermometer or 

 care to invest in one you may do a great deal of satisfactory 

 drying in your home ovens when the fire is low or by turn- 

 ing your gas or oil flame very low, and you can see you are 

 using very little fuel by doing this. Another way in which 

 you may use the artificial heat which is escaping from your 

 stove is by arranging a tray or series of trays on the back 

 of the stove or hanging them over the stove, if these trays 

 are made of wire such as is used for cellar windows the air 

 will circulate through them very nicely and drying may be 

 done quite rapidly. 



For commercial evaporating there are many types 

 which would need to be studied and the kind best fitted for 

 the locality used. The large Stahl dryer has a capacity of 

 quite a number of bushels at a time and may be filled several 

 times a day and for community work should be very satis 



