300 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[August, 
some purposes as good as that which, is canned, 
but there is a flavor about dried apples and 
dried peaches peculiar to them, aud while 
we have a plenty of canned peaches we like 
fruit of some kind curing in the yard. Many 
of the dry-houses were of the rudest descrip¬ 
tion—built of logs, with a flue running through 
the bottom. The sketch (fig. 4) is of one of the 
best quality is very white, but not so fine in 
flavor, as the fruit to obtain this color must be 
pulled and dried when green. Old housewives 
prefer the mahogany-colored apple for cooking,” 
now and then a pie made of the dried fruit. 
Persons far away from all access to cans 
and jars, having an abundance of fruit, dry it 
and turn it into cash. Many a hard-working 
Woman in the mountains of North Carolina or in 
the abundant orchards of Ohio and Illinois and 
other Western States dries fruit 
enough to supply her family with 
groceries for the } r ear. There 
are various ways of drying fruit. 
A few years ago we were much 
interested in seeingliow a share of 
the abundant peach crop in Mis¬ 
souri was disposed of. A rude 
oven was made in the side of a 
bank, some broad stones formed 
the top, and underneath these a 
slow fire was made. Upon the 
stones were placed peaches, cut 
through to the center. A slow 
fire was kept up in the oven, 
and the fruit gradually dried. A 
rude shelter was made over this 
drying oven to protect the fruit 
from sudden showers. Peaches 
dried in this rude way are highly 
prized by the German population 
of the West, and have a local 
name which we have forgotten. 
An enormous business in 
the aggregate is done in 
North Carolina in drying fruit. 
Mr. Woodward, our artist in 
the South, sent us an account 
of the drying of fruit at High 
Point, N. C. He says that dried 
fruit to the value of three to four 
hundred thousand dollars is an¬ 
nually sent from that point alone. He writes: 
“As enormous as the business is in the ag¬ 
gregate, no one person carries it on to any great 
extent. Every family has its orchard and dry- 
house. In my travels through the surrounding 
country, I did not see a house that did not have 
most improved kinds—a circular building, with 
a revolving post in the center, on which are 
racks to place the triangular-shaped trays. A 
person standing outside can in this way turn the 
rack and reach any tray without difficulty. The 
flue is at the base inside, extending around the 
Fig. 4. —A SOUTHERN DRYING-HOUSE. 
whole house, thereby securing an even tem¬ 
perature. The house (built of brick) is very 
close, so that no heat escapes. It takes a day 
and night for peaches to dry thoroughly. Ap¬ 
ples, as a general thing, are dried in the sun (as 
shown in fig. 3), taking about two days. The 
Drying fruit in the open air on trays or shelves 
is not altogether a satisfactory process. It is 
slow and uncleanly, is often interfered with by 
the iveather, aud the fruit is very often damaged 
by flies. A very simple and effectual method 
may be taken by using the sash and frame of a 
liot-bed. As soon as the hot¬ 
bed has served its purpose in 
the spring, it should be clear¬ 
ed out and the boards -washed 
off; shelves may be laid with¬ 
in it, which should be covered 
with clean white paper, to re¬ 
ceive the fruit and to reflect the 
heat, and a strip of wire-gauze 
or mosquito-net fastened at the 
back to permit the escape of the 
damp heated air. The glazed 
sash may then be kept closed, 
and the entrance of flies prevent¬ 
ed. The temperature within the 
sash will be sufficient to dry the 
fruit very rapidly, and rain does 
not interfere with the operation 
except to suspend it temporarily. 
The arrangement is shown at 
figure 1. At figure 2 is shown 
a cheap and useful dry-house 
for the use of artificial heat. 
It is made of sheet-iron, with 
perforated sheet-iron shelves, the 
edges of which are turned up so 
as to form shallow pans, and a 
tube similar to a common stove¬ 
pipe passes through it, having an 
opening at the outside, as shown 
in the figure. A handful of live 
coals of hard wood or charcoal is 
sufficient to raise the requisite heat, and care 
only is needed to keep the heat low enough to 
dry aud not to cook the fruit. Fruit dried in 
this manner is sweeter, and retains its natural 
flavor better, than that dried by the sun. The 
more rapidly the drying is performed, the better. 
