growing crop are not good. For drying fruit 
many varieties will be failures. We use the 
original Aldan process. We have other hot-air 
driers, hut the principle is the same, and their 
construction is not much of an improvement. 
Raspberries aud apples are the fruits that we 
evaporate. Wo sell our apples in St. Louis, 
principally to wholesale dealers, packed in 50- 
pound boxes. If help is plenty on a farm no 
other business will pay better than evaporat- 
iug, as the surplus of berries, cherries and 
fruits of all kinds, as well as of pumpkins, 
sweet corn, sweet potatoes and many other 
vegetables, can be thus prepared for home use 
or for local markets. A little experience will 
enable any one to make choice products,if care 
is exercised in preparing, always remember¬ 
ing that the quality of green or partly de¬ 
cayed fruit cannot be improved by drying. 
Apples yield about 10 per cent, of dried fruit 
-that is, a 50-pound bushel of fresh fruit will 
make five pounds of dried, and it costs about 
two cents per pound to prepare and dry them. 
We use sulphur exclusively for bleaching, aud 
consider it the only thing that should be used. 
Macoupin Co., Ill. 
FROM H. H. TIEBBARD. 
To make it a success the business of evapor¬ 
ating apples depends, more than any other 
with which I am acquainted, on the ability of 
the workmeu, the means employed and the 
thoroughness of the work. One must arrange 
to save expense in order to make a profit. It 
is a business that caunot, be made successful if 
carried on with form or auy other work. 
Apples should be used up as fast as they are 
bought, or a great loss will follow. It costs 
more to work up poor apples, and they make 
less dried fruit. Choice specimens of good, 
winter apples make from to 7 '.4 pounds to 
the bushel if used fresh: if hold, they shrink 
very fast. Common wind-falls of fair size 
make five to 6'^'pounds, and these are the 
kinds generally used by the evaporators who 
buy them at from T2 l j to 15 cents per bushel. 
Euough more of dried fruit cannot be made 
from picked apples to pay for their extra 
value for barreling, unless they are very cheap. 
Prices of dried fruit range from G}$ cents to 
16 cents per pound, but generally they are 
seven cents to eight cents. The market is 
very high just now, the price reaching to 1*5 
cents per pound; but prices will be lower as 
soon as the growiug crops are offered for sale. 
Evaporated berries pay one who can grow 
bis own fruit. They pay as well as if sold 
green, taking the season through. Evaporat¬ 
ed apples or berries (the barrel crop) dried are 
as readily sold in New York, Boston, Chicago 
or Philadelphia as auy class of grains. There 
are good responsible commission men that sell 
at five per ceut. commission on sales. Apples 
should lie packed in 50-pound boxes nicely put 
up nml faced ou one side. Small sizes of 
evaporators are not profitable ou apples. 
Monroe Co , N. Y. 
FROM I). WING & BRO. 
The market for evaporated fruit is very 
high at present, especially that for apples, 
they having advaueed 100 per ceut. during 
tin* season. No such prices can lie hoped for 
if the prospects for the present fruit crops are 
realized; hut prices will no doubt be fair. 
We use the “ Aldeu process.” Apples, 
peaches and black raspberries are the ouly 
fruits that pay for evaporating east of the 
Rocky Mountains. In California prunes and 
apricots can bt* added, aud a moderate quan¬ 
tity of jiears. As we are dealers aud export¬ 
ers as well as manufacturers, we bave regular 
jobbing channels for the sale of our goods. As 
a rule, Eastern commission men art* the banes 
of the trudu. Where fruit can bo safely aud 
cheaply marketed fresh, it will not pay to 
evaporate. Apples must not cost over 20 
cents per bushel, pouches from 25 cents to 
50 cents, according to quality, and raspber¬ 
ries five cents per quart, to make the business 
profitable one year with auothei. 
Monroe Co., N. Y. 
PEACH TRF.ES IN FLORIDA. 
My 20 peach trees were set one year ago 
this spring. They were little whip sticks 
without a branch when I put them out, now 
their stocks arc as thick as my wrist. They 
are ten feet high and their tops are six feet in 
diameter. Best of all, they have given us a 
half bushel of delicious peaches and they give 
promise of bearing bushels next year. 1 have 
600 young ones raised from seeds that 1 am 
now budding with choice varieties. The 
peach tree lives here and flourishes for 20 
years. It lias few enemies and bears pro¬ 
fusely. b. F. M. 
Orange Co., Fla. 
— «♦* — — 
Two-Y ear-Old Apples.— Joseph Thorn¬ 
ton, of Spring boro, Fa., has sent us three ap¬ 
ples grown iu 1885. A lot were stored in a 
box iu a cellar, aud half a bushel of them 
were, he says, better than the specimens sent 
us; but his neighbors got them, as all wanted 
two-year-old apples Those we received were 
still quite sound though of poor quality. We 
bave seen large quantities of two aud three- 
year-old apples kept quite sound in a large 
cold-storage warehouse for fruit at Bristol, 
Pa , on the Delaware. Whenever any curi¬ 
osity of this kind is sent to us, it would be 
well to give us all information about it for the 
benefit of others. It would, for instance, be 
desirable to learn whether there was any 
special reason for the preservation of these 
apples so long iu such a condition. 
The Mef.ting of the American Pomo- 
logical Society, which will beheld at Bos¬ 
ton, September 14, will be in many respects a 
notable event. An excellent programme has 
lieen prepared, including essays from Dr. J. A. 
Lintner, Prof. Forbes, Dr. Walcott, John J. 
Thomas, J. M. Smith and many others. The 
Massachusetts Horticultural Society offers 
$5**5 in cash for special prizes. Chas. W. Gar¬ 
field, Grand Rapids, Michigan, is Secretary. 
At the annual Strawberry Meeting of the 
Columbus Horticultural Society, at Horticul¬ 
tural Hall, Ohio State University, June 7th, 
Prof. Lazenby said that the strawberry be¬ 
longed to a right royal family of plants, in 
which were found the apple, pear, peach, 
quince, cherry, plum, raspberry, blackberry 
and others. Structurally, what is popularly 
known as the fruit of the strawberry is not 
tbe botanical fruit; or rather it is more .than 
the botanical fruit. What we call seeds are 
the fruits of the strawberry, and tbe soft, 
fleshy part is the enlarged end of the stem. 
According to Mr. Crawford, in grow¬ 
iug strawberries from seeds, the seeds are 
saved by removing the pulp from the berry, 
mixing the seed with sand, and drying it! 
Prepared in this way, it will keep for several 
years. It may be sown as soon as saved, and 
with proper care the young plauts will appear 
iu about three weeks: or the sowing may be 
done iu a greenhouse iu early spring, and at 
tbe proper time the plants will be ready to 
set out as potted plauts. A third method is 
to sow, as celery is sown, in early spriog. 
Tbe next season the plauts will fruit to perfec¬ 
tion. 
Prof. Weber showed from analysis of straw¬ 
berries, just made by him, that the fruit is im¬ 
proving in quality. Fresenius found it to con¬ 
tain six per cent, of seed; in his analysis of 
two varieties, only 1.5 per ceut. of seed was 
found by Prof. Weber. The former found 1.6 
per cent, of free acid, and 8.2 per ceut. of 
sugar: the latter found in one variety 4 7U of 
sugar aud 1 2 of free aeid, and in another vari¬ 
ety 5 per cent, of sugar and 7 per cent, of free 
acid. 
The amount of protein iu the strawberry is 
very small—only 0.8 per ceut. In order to 
maintain life on a diet of strawberries alone, 
a minimum of 88 pounds would have to be 
eaten daily by a man. 
LIVER OF SULPHUR FOR INSECT PESTS. 
About March 20 last when cutting the let¬ 
tuce out of u 14-sash cold-frame, I replanted 
cauliflower, six plauts under a sash—84 iu 
all. They grew very uieely until May 25 when 
I observed that on hot, sunshiny days the leaves 
would sudden I y drop to the ground as cabbag- 
esdo when affected with elub-ruot. I pulled up 
oue of the plauts and discovered a cluster of 
white maggots about half an inch long at work 
girdling the stalks just below the surface of 
the ground, I remembered having read in a 
previous number of the Rural something 
about liver of sulphur being used to advantage 
ou plants affected by vermin. I procured one 
ounce of it, dissolved it in three quarts of 
warm water, and gave each plant one large 
spoonful, pouring it against the stalk at the 
surface of the ground so that the liquid might 
follow the stalk downwards, aud at the end of 
24 hours I pulled up oue of the most badly af¬ 
fected plants aud found the maggots still there, 
but all dead. The liquid had killed them so 
quickly that they could not get away. Iu 
three or four days after the application the 
plants began to revive, and for several days 
past I have been cutting tiuo cauliflower heads. 
As I cut the flower-heads off I pull up the 
roots and find the maggots still there in form, 
but dead and decayed. This liquid saved my 
crop. JOSEPH PERKINS. 
Kingston, N. J. 
■ farm Ccottomij. 
BILO BUILD ING. 
The silo experience of the past three years 
has beeu marked by somewhat radical changes, 
not only in cutting and storing the crop, but 
in the structure of tbe silo itself. The demand 
has been for a cheap silo, “a poor man’s” silo, 
and as a result the wooden silo ha-* come into 
use as a make-shift, possibly, between no silo 
and one of durable character. The stone or 
concrete silo is a structure adapted to places 
where sand and stone are dirt-cheap; while 
the wooden silo is suitable for everywhere 
The only question about silos of this hind is 
how long will they last; and those who have 
them say, “We have not yet found out.” 
That a wooden silo must be a popular form 
arises not only from its cheapness in building, 
but from the ease with which it can be built 
and its adaptation to all sections of country 
where stones are at a premium. 
While the wooden silo rnay be quickly 
built, it must at tbe same time be strong, and 
to that end the up-aud-dowu studding should 
be not less thau 2xl0-inch stuff. Wheu the 
silo is being filled the lateral pressure is great, 
aud the studding should be put not over Hi 
inches apart, especially if the silo has a depth 
of 1*1 feet, which is now the general rule. The 
frame of this structure may be wholly of 2x8 
or 10-inch stuff, or it may have six or eight- 
inch-square sills, and frame bents of square 
six or eight-inch timber,filling in between 
them with studding firmly fastening them to 
the sills and plates. 
It is always best to bave the bottom of the 
silage pit—the floor—on solid earth, and so a 
good way is to build a low. stone wall, firmly 
bedding the sill into the inside face, as at 
Fig. 237. 
It must be borne in mind that the silo must 
be made air and water-tight, and so this wall 
may be filled iu so that the bottom or the 
floor of the silo, shall come above the surface, 
or it may have a grout surface. As a usual 
thing the soil itself makes a good-enough 
floor. All it needs is to be pounded down 
firmly, come up a few inches on the inside 
lining of the silo, so that the air caunot 
work under. This is readily seen in the illus¬ 
tration, Fig. 238, which alto shows the 
D, ?xll) inch studding, lotvnailed to sill G. E, stone 
wall. G. sill bedded into wall. A and B. lining ot the 
silo of inch boards. K, tarred paper between them. 
C. bottom ot silo, coming up on sides against Uuiug- 
board, A. 
method of lining the silo with tarred paper 
and two thicknesses of iueh boards nailed to a 
2xl(Much studding. This makes a solid air 
aud frost proof wall, and is easily constructed, 
and will last for at least several years. The 
first lining of boards is of rough lumber, and 
it is then papered with tarred board, well 
lapped. The second lining of boards should 
be surfaced on the front face, and put on with 
a half lap, as seen, and this makes an air¬ 
proof wall. 
As it is very necessary that the foundation 
of a silo shall not spread, tbe method 
seeu in Fig. 88J, shows another excellent 
way, ami the illustration plainly tells the 
manner of construction. 
Tbe matter of tbe frame settled, the way of 
making the wall air-tight aud durable is to be 
considered, aud as good a plau for a cheap 
silo, aud ooe which promises greater durabili¬ 
ty than boards or paper, is to dispense with 
the inside lining board, A, Fig 238, and also 
the paper, and to lath and plaster the silo. The 
walls are first stripped up with lath on 
the board B, about 16 inches apart and are 
then lathed in the regular way, and plastered 
the studding A: C, stone wall: D. outside bank of 
earth : K. floor of silo of pounded clay or concrete 
mortar: F, Inside lining of silo, inch lumber, sur¬ 
faced : G. tarred paper, between double lining ; H, In¬ 
side lining of rough inch lumber. 
with water-lime cement, instead of white-lime 
mortar, and smoothed up. This makes a cheap 
but durable wall, aud one which the moisture 
of the silage caunot affect. The outside of 
such a silo—if built as a separate structure— 
should be covered, first, with tarred paper, 
aud then siding. No sawdust should be used, 
as it is of no earthly use except to draw mois¬ 
ture and help rot tbe building. Silage can¬ 
not be frozen through the walls, and certainly 
not if a dead air-space is made as described. 
When room can be spared in the main barn, 
it is quite as well to sacrifice the big bay, and 
by taking out the floor, let the silo frame 
start from the ground. The studdingcau then 
be much lighter, but need to be as closely 
set. They cau be backed against the frame of 
the barn, and will need no outside ceiling, or 
pafier, as the barn itself is its outside protec¬ 
tion, aud it may be built as described, or 
plastered, and 1 would, afrersorue experience, 
recommend the latter, unless some kind of 
lumber cau be found that will not decay. 
In my own barn, which has a basement, the 
big bay was used; this gives me silos 18 feet 
deep, which cau be readily filled from above, 
as the barn is built on a hill-side. The doors 
of the silos open into the feeding stable from 
below. While feeding from the top,doors open 
on to tbe main floor, and the silage falls down 
a chute. At Fig. 240 a cross-section of the 
barn is shown: o is the drive-wav into the 
barn; b tbe floor: e find d are the silos 16 feet 
deep, going down to basement floor, E. The 
doors out of the silo are seen two above 
the floor and two below. A floor on the big 
beam, F, gives a large storing space above the 
silos. 
If built out-of-doors, the silo needs a roof 
and also drainage against surface water, but 
protection against frost is not needed, as a 
mass of from 50 to 400 tons of silage at 80° is 
its own protection, a face that was amply 
proven in Wiseousin the past winter. The 
partitions in a silo must be well made; but I 
am inclined to thiuk that where the silo is not 
over 14 feet in width, planks with two edges, 
resting in grooves at the ends, will be strong 
enough to bold the silage, for they can be 
placed in position as the silage is beiug cut iu. 
After the silage has settled and becomes mat¬ 
ted together, there would not be pressure 
euough to throw them over, as our silo or pit 
is being fed out. Wheu pit No. 2 is being fed 
out, tbe partition cau be taken down, a plank 
