- COLORING SATSUMA ORANGES IN ALABAMA. 13 
order to compare the results of this method with the engine-exhaust 
method already in use. A concrete gas-generating house, 5 by 8 
feet and 5 feet high, was built about 20 feet from the coloring 
house. From near the roof of this house, gas generated by a four- 
‘burner asbestos-wick kerosene stove with perforated pieces of tin 
placed loosely over the chimneys of each burner was drawn through 
5-inch galvanized-iron rain spouting and forced by means of a 
blower into the coloring rooms. This being a 2-room house a Y 
with a damper in each branch served to divert the gas into the 
desired room. Two cars of oranges were satisfactorily colored with 
this outfit. 
THE COLORING PLANT. 
CONSTRUCTION OF AN INEXPENSIVE COLORING PLANT. 
In Figure 1 is shown a plan for the construction of a typical 2- 
room coloring house. Each room is 20 by 20 by 6 feet to the plate 
inside and holds one maximum carload in field boxes. This plan is 
adaptable to the requirements of the individual packing house and 
can be used for the construction of a single room or as many more 
rooms as are necessary. The cost of such a 2-room house should 
not exceed $500, using rough or undressed lumber throughout. 
In practice it is found that a 1-room plant can not be operated 
as efficiently as a 2-room house, since with two rooms the work of 
coloring and packing can be carried on continuously while alternat- 
ing the coloring rooms. If a small-capacity coloring plant only is 
desired it would be advisable to have at least two rooms each of a 
_earload capacity or less. Preferably the coloring house should 
be built in conjunction with the packing house (Fig. 2), with the 
floor on a level with that of the packing house, so that when colored 
the fruit can be trucked directly into the packing house. There 
should be enough space below the floor to allow free circulation of 
gas, which is introduced into this space. The walls and roof are 
‘papered and boarded on both sides of the studding and rafters to 
make the building more nearly air-tight, to prevent the loss of the 
—- 
gas from within the house, and to provide dead air space between the - 
studding for insulating the interior against extremes of heat and 
cold. 
The coloring house should be built on a solid 8 to 10 inch con- 
crete foundation, on which is bolted a 2 by 6 inch sill set in cement. 
_ For a house of more than one room concrete partitions in the founda- 
tion should be constructed to correspond with the rooms. An en- 
trance provided with a small tight-fitting door should be placed in 
the foundation under each room. 
The frame should be of 2 by 4 inch studding set on 2-foot centers, 
and 2 by 6 inch rafters on 16-inch centers, with a 1 by 6 inch collar 
beam for each second rafter. .The walls and partitions should be 
double sided and papered. The exterior siding of thoroughly sea- 
soned material should be well nailed over single-ply felt roofing 
paper (not tar paper). The inside walls may be of close-fitting 
ordinary sheathing material nailed inside the studding over ord:- 
nary building paper. The roof should be covered with a 2-ply or 3- 
ply roofing paper cemented as well as nailed along the seams. It is 
