PREPARATION FOR MARKET. 43 



door to fit in its place ; make a number of shelves with 

 bottoms of wire netting of about one-fourth inch mesh. 

 In filling the trays for the first time, put the largest 

 roots in the top trays and the smallest upon the bottom 

 ones, the lowest of which should be at least six inches 

 above the top of the stove. Place the box upon the 

 stove, but raised about half an inch above it, so as to 

 prevent its bottom edges from becoming scorched, and 

 to insure a current of air through the shelves of roots. 

 A few stout nails left projecting above the edges will 

 accomplish this end. Fill the trays and place them in 

 the dryer ; do not have a roaring fire. The heat given 

 off from an ordinary cook stove after the dinner has 

 been removed will be about right for this kind of dryer. 

 Eemember, it is warm, and not hot, air that gives best 

 results in drying. The objections to this dryer are that 

 it is often in the way of the housewife, and that it must 

 frequently be removed to accommodate her, thus losing 

 much time in the necessarily slow process of curing the 

 roots. If a separate stove can be used for it, it will be 

 found a first-class apparatus. 



If wood be used for fuel and the stove pipe passes 

 through an up|)er room that may be used for the pur- 

 pose, a good dryer may be made to fit around the pipe. 

 Or where the house is heated by a furnace, a portable 

 dryer may be made to fit over a register. Failing these, 

 the grower may readily construct a serviceable dryer to 

 work upon the principle of a Warm air current through 

 the roots, that will meet his individual needs. A shelf 

 containing two hundred square inches of netting should 

 hold about two pounds of green roots, and should last 

 for at least five years if properly cared for. The whole 

 dryer should not cost more than ten dollars for time 

 and materials necessary to build it. 



No rule as to the time required in drying can be 

 given, since roots of the same size differ greatly as to 



