332 
THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA 
shuiild be selected and kept in as cool a situation as 
possible in a cold frame, throutihout the summer. The 
plants should be potted up late and grown in moder- 
ately small pots. The colors most wanted are a good 
pure white, yellow, and crimson. The other parent, B. 
socotrana, must be started early in moderate heat, and 
encouraged to grow on quickly. When the plants are 
coming Ynto flower they should be brought into a dry, 
airy house, with a night temperature of about 55 de- 
grees. The plants should be so placed that they receive 
all the sunlight possible, for in such circumstances the 
male tiowers produce pollen more freely, and fertiliza- 
tion is effected more easily. It should be noted that, as 
a rule, the anthers of B. socotrana do not burst, and to 
this fact many failures are to be attributed. To get 
over this difficulty the stamens should be gathered 
when fully developed, and placed in a dry part of the 
house. \Vhen the anthers seem to be ripe, their tips 
should be cut in order to allow the pollen to escape. 
It is sometimes necessary to shake them well, to lib- 
erate the pollen. Generally, however, enough pollen is 
produced by one male flower to pollinate two or three 
female flowers. After the flower has been fertilized 
it should be staked, and supported with raffia or other 
tj-ing material in order to keep it from drooping, as it 
is apt to do so late in the season. 
The seed ripens fairly quicklv, and as soon as the 
seed pods begin to turn brown they should be watched 
attentively in order that the seed may be gathered be- 
fore the pods burst. The seeds should be sown at once, 
in small pots or pans, and they should produce plants 
which will flower in the following autumn. — John Heal, 
\'. AI. H., in Gardners' Chronicle (English). 
DRYING FRUITS AND VEGETABLES IN THE 
HOME 
npHE advantages of drying vegetables are more appar- 
-*• ent perhaps for the town or city household which 
has no cellar or place in which to store fresh vegetables. 
For the farmer's wife the new method of canning will 
probably be better than sun-drying, which requires a 
longer time. 
Shorter methods of drying are available, however, 
according to the United States Department of Agricul- 
ture, and the dried product holds an advantage in that 
usually it requires fewer jars, cans or other containers 
than do canned fruits or vegetables ; also dried material 
can be stored in receptacles which cannot be used for 
canning. Furthermore, canned fruit and vegetables 
freeze and can not be shipped as conveniently in winter. 
Dried vegetables can be compacted and shipped with a 
minimum of risk. 
There are three principal ways of drying, namely, sun- 
drving, drying by artificial heat and drying by air blast. 
When artificial heat is used the fruits and vegetables 
should be exposed first to gentle heat and later to the 
higher temperatures. It is not desirable that the air tem- 
perature should go above 140 deg. to 150 deg. F., and 
it is better to keep it well below this ])oint. 
Drying may be accomplished with little or no expense 
for outfits or containers, and the simplest form is sun- 
drying. Sliced vegetables and fruits may be exposed to 
the sun on warm, dry days on sheets of tuiprinted paper 
or lengths of muslin. A somewhat simpler method is to 
place vegetables and fruits in the kitchen oven or just 
above the stove. 
Drying operations on an even larger scale may be con- 
ducted with outfits made at home, says American For- 
estry. A tray, consisting of strips of wood with gal- 
vanized wire bottom, may be used over the stove or in 
the sun. In a still simpler form this tray may be made 
of a piece of galvanized wire netting with the edges 
turned up for an inch or two on sides and ends. More 
coini)lete driers for cook-stove use may be made at home 
or they may be bought with slight outlay. 
The ability to judge accurately as to when fruit has 
reached the proper condition to be removed from the 
drier can be gained only by experience. It should be so 
dry that it is impossible to press water out of the freshly 
cut ends of the pieces and the natural grain of the fruit 
should not show when broken. It should, however, not 
be so dry that it will snap or crackle. 
In large factories the vegetables are shredded and 
sliced by means of machinery not adaptable for home 
use, but there are simple devices which any housewife 
can use. Even a large, sharp kitchen knife may be used 
for the cutting when a handier device is not available. 
A good home-made drier should have the following 
features, according to Farmers' Bulletin 841, published 
by the United States Department of Agriculture : 
( 1 ) It should be light, easy to operate, of simple 
construction, inexpensive, and, as nearly as possible, non- 
inflammable. 
( 2 ) It should permit a free circulation of air, to allow 
the rapid removal of the air after it has passed over 
the vegetables and absorbed the moisture. 
(3) It should provide for protection of the food 
product against dust, insects, etc. 
( 4 ) It should protect the materials from being moist- 
ened by steam, smoke, rain, or dew while drying. 
I'ailure to prepare vegetables and fruits for winter use 
by drying is one of the worst examples of American 
extravagance, says the National Emergency Food Garden 
Commission in its manual on drying. To save vegetables 
and fruits by canning this year is a patriotic dutv. — ■ 
Aj^riciiltiira! Digest. 
BOX-BARBERRY 
npHE great need of a hardy, dwarf hedge plant, one 
which will thrive where border-box is not suc- 
cessful, has been keenly felt for a long time, and es- 
pecially so now when the formal garden border and 
the low hedge effects are so popular with many garden 
schemes. Attempts to keep down to the required size 
for low, formal effects various privets, euonymus, bar- 
berry, etc., have been only partially satisfactory, owing 
largely to the peculiar limitations of the plants them- 
selves. 
This new plant is a very dwarf, compact, erect form 
of the popular Japan barberry, and will thrive wherever 
that barberry is at home, which is over an extended ter- 
ritory. It can be kept but a few inches high indefinitely 
by pruning. It makes an ideal dwarf hedge and can be 
trimmed into formal specimens. The original plant, now 
15 years old, is about 2^ feet tall, very compact, assum- 
ing the general outlines so characteristic of an old border- 
box specimen, which it resembles to a remarkable degree, 
other than the evergreen nature of the box. This new 
dwarf barberry, which is to be known as Bo.x-Barberrv, 
has its own peculiar charms. The delightful, soft sum- 
mer-green foliage, turning in the fall to intensely brilliant 
reds and yellows, with an abundance of red fruits which 
remain on all winter, really places it conspicuously in a 
class by itself. 
The original plant made its appearance among a 
quantity of Japan barberry seedlings. It was not, how- 
ever, until after several years of careful watching that 
its merits were appreciated and its broad usefulness 
realized. Box-barberry, this new candidate for popular 
favor, is certain of a hearty welcome. It is of easiest 
propagation, coming freely from either hard or soft wood 
cuttings. — American Florist. 
