STERILISERS AND STERILISATION 9 
green peas, which are most difficult to bottle satisfac- 
torily, and which give off the most offensive smell 
imaginable if sterilisation has failed. 
Thus much for the actual process of sterilisation; now 
let us consider the construction of the steriliser; and we 
will first take the simple contrivance which can be used 
in an ordinary kitchen or any other room, and which 
is therefore specially adapted for the fostering and 
encouragement of fruit bottling as a rural or cottage 
industry. 
Some eight or nine years ago an ex-soldier who lived 
in Maidstone, Fowler by name, gave an immense impetus 
to fruit bottling by the introduction of a simple con- 
trivance for carrying out the process. It was good as far 
as it went, and Mr Fowler’s efforts served a very 
important purpose in advertising the subject and bringing 
it within the range of ‘‘ practical politics,” by putting a 
simple and practical apparatus within the reach of all. 
To him will undoubtedly belong the honour of 
awakening public interest in fruit preserving. 
Fowler’s or Lee’s Patent Economic Steam Cooker, as 
it was called, consists of two parts, A and B, A being 
a round or oval tin vessel with a lid and a strainer at the 
bottom, like a fish-kettle. This will hold about fourteen 
20-0z. bottles. In the side is a hole through which the 
long spout of the kettle, forming the second part, B, 
is inserted. Heat is applied to the kettle either from 
an ordinary stove or gas or spirit lamp. The steam thus 
generated passes into the vessel A, and produces the 
required temperature. Outside the vessel A is placed 
a tin tube which contains a thermometer, the bulb of 
which is reached by the steam from the cooker, passing 
through a hole in the side. 
The impossibility of gauging the temperature 
accurately with this thermometer, placed where it is, 
is the chief element of weakness in the apparatus, 
