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THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



was set up at a shed near the center, of the orchard, a spring- 

 about fifty rods distant was cleaned out, and the water as 

 needed was hauled to the central plant in open barrels on a 

 low down, broad tired wagon, bailed from the spring into 

 the barrels with a pail, and then bailed from the wagon into 

 the cooking hogsheads as needed. Our engine was left on 

 the rear end of a wagon as hauled to the orchard, a piece of 

 rubber hose was attached to the steam valve, and a light 

 crowbar fastened to the other end as a weight to keep the 

 end of the hose near the bottom of the cooking hogshead, 

 and to prevent the power of the steam from forcing the end 

 of the hose out of the liquid. It was also a convenience in 

 lifting the hose from one hogshead to another. 



For cooking, two 125 gal. molasses hogsheads were 

 used. The wash was made by putting sixty pounds of lime 

 in the bottom of the hogshead, pouring on water enough to 

 cover, then inserting the end of the hose and letting in the 

 live steam. This hastened the slaking of the lime and saved 

 a few minutes' time in the boiling process. 



A third barrel of fifty gallon capacity, filled with water, 

 was kept standing near, into which, when not in use in the 

 boiling hogshead, the hose was thrust, which gave us con- 

 tinually a barrel of hot water for pouring on the lime when 

 slaking. I consider this as quite important, and that it con- 

 tributed not a little in the saving of time, and also to the 

 more thorough slaking of the lime. 



Now to go back. As the lime began to slake and to 

 soften, forty-five pounds of sublimed flow^ers of sulphur 

 were added. This was thoroughly mixed and stirred wath 

 the lime, as it slaked, with a hoe. As the lime became slaked 

 and the sulphur dissolved, an occasional pail of water was 

 added. This to prevent what in our experience showed 

 might be a too rapid boiling of the mixture, as with fifty to 

 sixty pounds pressure we could easily force the stuff over the 

 side of the hogshead. 



During the process of boiling, the hogsheads were cov- 

 ered with sacking, which retained the heat, and stopped con- 

 siderable escape of steam. The boiling process was kept up 

 on an average of about fnrty-five minutes, water being added 



