April, l\>\4 



Thh. CiARDEN AND FIELD. 



'i;)7 



- JDryiiig Applets - 



The American Ajiriciiltiirist su<^- 

 •osls the followinjj as a px-actic<il 

 ■nethotl of ilrvinj:^ apples ; — 



Put up a I)ox liuildini; iH x iS 

 feet on the ijrouud and" about 14 

 ft. to the eaves, althouirh 12 ft. 

 will do. Any kind of a roof will 

 answer. Alonj^- the ridcr-g or comh 

 of the roof an oi)enino;- a foot 

 wide is left. This should be cov- 

 ered with a raised roof, lleaving- the 

 sides open or .slatted 'for the vapour, 

 to pass throujrh and out. LV 

 throufrh the centre of the buildiut; 

 should pass a stnoke flue of brick 

 or tile. On each of the four sides 

 olieninos one foot S(|uare should be 

 cut, two on each side, and each 

 should have some kind of a tight 

 shutter to regulate the air sup- 

 ]Av. These openinj^s are near the 

 irround to allow fresh air to enter. 

 The floor may be just earth, or 

 brick, or cement, or cinders. 



A heater of some kind should l)e 

 ;>laced on this lower orxound floor 

 and a flue for smoke and heat 

 may be carried around from 4 to 

 6ft. above the g-round, if desired, 

 before entering the chimney. The 

 old stvle greenhouse flue with ftir- 

 nace door and ash-door outside the 

 building and a brick or tile flue 

 running aroimd inside, gradually 

 risin? to the chimnev, would be 

 excellent. 



Now, 8ft. above the ground is 

 the drying floor. This is made of 

 lumber. The floor timbers are 

 boards 1x12 in. set up edgewise 

 Sin. apart ; across them the floor 

 is laid. This floor is of 2in. stuff, 

 sawed endwis'e into strips ; eacli 

 strii-) when finished is 2in. wide on 

 top and only I'y^in. wide below. In 

 la\-in5r them down they are put 

 ,^-i6 of an inch apart on top. This 

 arrangement keeps the floor from' 

 9-etting eummed up or the cracks 

 fillino- with debris. As the cracks 

 are widest below all fine stuff falls 

 through. Above all heaters, stoves, 

 flues, or horizontal heating pipes 

 55hould be hung tin or sheet iron 

 plates to keep dust from fallinp- 

 on hot surface, as it bums and 

 smokes-, thus flavoring the fruit 

 'to its detriment. If these metal 

 r shields are bent like a house roof 

 . thev will shed the dust on to the 

 ' PTound. A door to enter each 

 floor completes our dry-house. 



The upper door to the drying 

 floor is entered from a balcony, 

 buiilt outside, with stairs to the 

 ground. With this dryer is used a 



bleacher. A box- or chute 2 ft. 

 square and 10 ft. long is m.ade. 

 This chute is set up on end out- 

 sule, so that the lower end is on 

 the ground and the upper end 

 reaches about 2 or 3 feet above the 

 floor of the balcony, and is wholly 

 outside of the building. A short 

 door is made in one side at the 

 liottom. Bo.xes about 2ft. square 

 and 6in. deep, with slatted bot- 

 toms, are made to fit inside the 

 chute. Any kind of an elevator 

 (made, perhaps, ol a couple ,of 

 old ratchet wheels and a chain 

 froin an old pump, or any other 

 device your ingenuity suggests) 

 that will allow these "trays to be 

 slii:)ped into the chute near the 

 ground and then raised 6 or 8 in. 

 for another to be put in- will do. 

 An iron pot with coals of fire on 

 which is sprinkled sulphur is sunk 

 into the ground in the centre of 

 the chute. This bleaches the( fruit, 

 and as the trays rise to the top 

 a second man on the balcony takes 

 each succeeding tray off, c-"d -f^-r 

 slicino- steps in on the drying floor 

 and empties the fruit, sending his 

 tray back for more. 



Culls that can be pared are usu- 

 ally used for drying, but any apple 

 that can be pared will do. " It is 

 not necessary to name any special 

 oarer, as they are constantly beino- 

 impro\'ed or invented. The fruit sjs 

 ))ared near by. One woman with 

 a good machine and two assistants 

 to fetch and carry can pare 70 

 bushels in a day. " They are car. 

 ried in trays from the parer to the 

 trimmer. It will take from two 

 to four srirls to trim, removing] 

 with a knife all the other blemish- 

 es. Then they are cored and so 

 into the bleacher before slicing, 

 which latter operation is perform- 

 ed by a machine at the top of the 

 bleaching chute. 



The Prepared fruit is spread 

 about 6in. deep on the dryinfr floor. 

 The temperature is kept at about 

 t8o dep-rees, and this fruit dries in 

 24 hours. Much of it is then very 

 brittle, so tV.e fires are allowed to 

 cool, and the fruit is shovelled 

 into a l^p^'i and allowed to sweat, 

 which makes all nli^ble, when it 

 can be at once nacked and nressed 

 mto barrels or boxes for shipment 

 or storage. 



The above described dryer will 

 dry TOO bushels every 24 hours 

 Mr. WeHhouse has six of them in 

 one orchard, and by filling in suc- 

 cession the work goes rapidly and 



merrily on. Of late Hars Mr. 

 WelHioiisc has sold all culls, giving 

 free ii.se of the dryers to the pur- 

 chaser, which is an inducement to 

 pay more for the culls. 



# 



Value of Thorough Cul- 

 tivation. 



Many people do not reali.se the 

 miportance of deep, through, antl 

 frequent cultivation as affecting 

 the growth of plants and the cash 

 yalue of a crop. As long as th/,; 

 soil is not actually baking they 

 think cultivation is not necessary. 

 This Is a costly mistake. Cultiva- 

 tion improves the mechanical con- 

 dition of soils for root systems;, 

 purifies soils by admitting sunlight: 

 and air, saves moisture, and ren- 

 ders fertilisers available to plants. 

 On this subject we adapt the fol- 

 lowing from a paper by Carroll B 

 vSmith, of Redlands, California, as 

 reported in the " Californian Fruit- 

 grower " :— 



A well-cultivated soil will settle 

 in a week or two without being 

 rained upon in the meantime, and 

 the ground must be stirred again. 



in the preparation of land for a 

 crop a deep ploughing and after- 

 hnmg ,s of the greatest value, for 

 when a seed sprouts and , sends 

 down Its rootlet, the ground is 

 open to receive it. The penetra- 

 tion is therefore deeper, its hold 

 firmer, and its feeding- area larger 

 In time of drought it is rooted 

 deeper and is safer. This principle 

 holds true for all sizes of plants 

 and trees. It is the early good 

 start whT«:h largely influences their 

 after life. 



The conservation of moisture is 

 affected by the mulch produced by 

 cultivation. Loose, H'-ht srround 

 IS a poor conductor of moisture, 

 and the more so if there is plenty 

 of organic m-aterial present. It is 

 not the moisture in the top four 

 or six inches that it is desired to 

 save, but rather the sub-moisture 

 below the cultivator depth. That 

 IS the moisture the roots are draw- 

 ing upon. When the soil settles 

 again by its own weight it con- 

 ducts some moisture to the sur- 

 face. The litrhter and more loose 

 the mulch is kept the more effec- 

 tively moisture is retained. 



The way in which cultivation af- 

 fects the availability of fertilisers 

 is little known and little thought 

 of. Plants take up water through 

 their roots, and the fertilisers 



