24 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER . 
January  10,  1901. 
ratio  to  market  advancements  elsewhere,  but  apart  from  that  a  fresh 
factor  has  to  be  taken  into  account — viz.,  the  Dublin  Gas  Company 
having  introduced  the  manufacture  of  water  gas,  a  certain  percentage 
of  which  is  mixed  with  ordinary  gas,  the  output  of  coke  is  not  only 
thereby  lessened  but  further  diminished  by  the  com}  any  employing  it 
in  the  manufacture  of  water  gas.  Contingent  upon  this  innovation 
the  price  of  coke  has  within  the  last  year  gone  up  50  per  cent.  To 
sum  up,  coke,  which  has  been  an  economical  and  generally  satisfactory 
agent  for  horticultural  heatiDg,  can  no  longer  be  regarded  so  at  its 
present  prohibitive  price  ;  nor  is  there  any  prospect  of  its  falling  to 
normal  rates. 
Weie  this  a  matter  of  local  interest  only,  its  introduction  here 
would  not  appeal  to  the  great  majority  of  “  our  Journal  ”  readers  ;  as 
it  is,  the  re  is  a  probability  of  the  same  causes  which  debar  Irish 
gardeners  from  the  use  of  their  favourite  fuel  being  in  operation 
wherever  gas  companies  abound.  Breeze,  which  rules  at  a  lower 
quotation  than  any  fuel  on  the  market,  has  been  tried  and  found 
wanting  in  every  desirable  quality  save  low  price,  so  much  so  that 
it  is  dear  at  that — perhaps  the  dearest  of  all  ;  whilst  slack,  unless 
used  in  combination  with  coke,  is  both  dirty,  wasteful,  and  generally 
unsatisiactory.  In  Wigan  coal,  which  possesses  fair  heating  powers, 
and  is,  s  ve  Scotch  coal,  the  lowest  priced  in  Dublin,  it  was  thought 
the  cheapest  heating  medium  had  been  found,  until  anthracite,  which 
is  quoted  at  about  6s.  per  ton  higher  than  the  Wigan,  had  been 
tried,  and  proved  to  be  the  best  fuel  obtainable,  and  possibly  the 
best  v\e  shall  ever  obtain,  although  at  first  sight  its  price  does  not 
recommend  it. 
Anthracite  is,  of  course,  too  well  known  in  the  greater  gardening 
community  of  Ei  gland  to  require  any  recc  mmendation  from  a  Green 
Islander,  although  as  far  as  kinds  of  fuel  used  in  English  gardens  go 
it  is  still  in  the  minority.  In  Irish  gardens  it  appears  until  lately  to 
have,  been  virtually  unknown  ;  now  the  force  of  circumstances  is 
pushing  it  to  the  front,  and  from  } resent  experience  it  is  likely  to 
become  the  leading  fuel  for  garden  purposes.  The  greater  heating 
power,  weight  for  weight,  and  cleanliness  in  consumption  especially 
recommending  it,  provided  the  means  are  given  for  its  perfect 
combustion.  Its  smokeless  qualities  are,  too,  highly  appreciated,  for, 
apart  from  all  consideration  of  foul  flues,  the  greatest  wasters  of  heat 
where  periodical  cleanir  g  is  neglected,  soot-begrimed  glass  and  wood¬ 
work  is  entirely  avoided.  It  was  not  intended  in  this  paper  to 
promulgate  the  pratses  of  anthracite,  but  somehow  one  has  been  lured 
on  to  put  forth  one’s  own  experience,  when  the  primary  intention  was 
really  to  elicit  the  opinions  of  others  on  this  burning  question. 
Circumstances  alter  cases,  but  there  are  other  points  to  he  briefly 
touched  upon  in  the  matter  of  economic  heating.  A  great  source  of 
waste  lies  m  lengths  of  pipes  between  the  boiler  and  the  houses,  which 
iu  few  cases  can  be  utilised  by  placing  frames  or  pits  over  them. 
These  are,  of  course,  generally  enclosed  by  brick  or  tile  channels,  whilst 
probably  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the  builer  they  are 
entirely  exposed.  The  advisability  of  encasing  all  such  pipes  in  a  non¬ 
conducting  material,  several  kinds  of  which  are  made  for  the  purpose, 
is  obvious,  and  should  enter  into  the  economist’s  calculations.  There  is, 
also,  much  room  for  improvement  in  methods  ot  stoking.  A  good 
stuker  who  is  anxious  to  burn  the  smallest  quantity  of  fuel  and 
extract  from  it  the  greatest  possible  amount  of  heat,  is  what  we  term 
here  “a  jewel  of  a  man.”  Furthermore,  should  he  by  keen  obser¬ 
vation  be  enabled  to  put  into  the  houses  just  as  much  artificial  teat 
as  is  wanted,  and  no  more,  anticipatirg  any  wintry  sunbeams  as  help 
to  the  end,  then  one  would  be  Inclined  to  go  further  and  say  he  is  an 
angel  in  disguise. 
Among  the  great  and  little  robbers  of  our  heat  supply,  however 
expensively  or  economically  produced,  are  faulty  arrangement  ot  the 
pipes,  insufficient  piping,  and  leaksentailing  the  constant  indribbling 
of  cold  water  from  the  supply  box  Most  gardeners  have  had 
experience  of  all  types  rf  heating,  from  those  in  which  perlect 
arrange  met  t  of  the  pipes  insures  a  free  circulation  of  the  water  in  them, 
and  once  filled  will  go  for  months  with  an  infinitesimal  addition,  as 
they  should  do,  to  those  where  the  merry  music  of  water  running  ioto 
t  he  cistern  is  vari<  d  only  I  y  an  occasional  deluge  from  it  wheu  the 
fire  is  pushed  on  and  the  water  is  pushed  out.  This  is  the  effect  of  a 
cause  as  simple  as  it  is  in  some  cases  easy  to  rectify.  All  flow  pipes 
should  have  a  gentle  rise  of  1  inch  in  6  feet  from  their  exit  at  the 
top  of  the  boiler  to  the  farthest  point  at  which  the  air  vent  should  be 
placed,  and  irmn  which  the  return  commences  its  declination  at  the 
same  rate.  However,  such  matters  are  perhaps  too  simple  to  further 
detain,  be}ond  remarking  that  where  this  has  not  been  considered  in 
iaying  the  pipes,  or  the  piers  sustaining  the  pipes  have  sunk,  such 
things  can  often  be  easily  put  right  by  carefully  levering  up  the  tapes 
and  wedging  them  to  the  proper  elevation.  In  conclusion,  the  subj<ct 
'n  its  many  bearings  may  be  thought  worthy  of  further  discussion  in 
*■>  der  to  shed  all  possible  light  upon  the  burning  question. — K.,  Dublin. 
Will  Fruit,  Drying  Pay? 
It  seems  almost  incredible  that  a  little  country  like  this,  teeming 
with  population,  produces  in  a  season  of  plenty  more  fruit  of  certain 
kinds  than  can  be  disposed  of  by  the  grower  at  a  profit  to  himself 
Yet  the  fact  remains,  and  deplorable  though  this  waste  is,  tons  of 
wholesome  fruit  last  year  fell  from  the  trees  because  it  would  not  pay 
to  pick.  I  do  not  intend  going  into  the  cause  of  this,  but  doubtless 
our  means  of  distribution  are  bad,  as  there  are  people  enough  in  the 
country  to  consume  all  the  fruit  that  is  grown  in  the  best  of  seasons* 
if  they  could  only  be  put  in  touch  with  it.  How  to  prevent  the 
repetition  of  this  waste  of  good  material  is  a  matter  worthy  of  the 
attention  of  practical  men,  and  various  ways  and  means  have  been 
suggested  already. 
The  headline  of  these  notes  indicates  the  character  of  one  of  them, 
and  though  the  utility  of  drying  fruit  has  been  discussed  frequently, 
it  does  not  appear  to  have  advanced  much  further.  It  seems,  however, 
that  a  few  people  have  been  putting  the  matter  to  a  practical  test,  and 
one  of  them  is  Mr.  James  Harper,  Stroud,  Gloucestershire,  who  recently 
gave  his  experiences  and  impressions  in  an  interesting  letter  which 
appeared  in  the  “  Kent  Messenger.”  As  the  matter  is  one  of  interest 
to  many  readers  of  the  Journal  of  Horticulture ,  1  take  the  liberty 
of  quoting  from  Mr.  Harper's  communication  with  a  view  to 
raising  a  discussion  as  to  the  practicability  of  fruit  drying  as  a  home 
industry. 
The  writer  appears  to  have  been  prompted,  in  the  first  place,  by  a 
desire  to  deal  with  fruit  in  seasons  of  glut,  in  a  more  satisfactory  way 
than  selling  it  at  a  ruinously  low  price  or  allowing  it  to  rot  on  the 
ground,  and  this  led  him  to  inquire  what  method  the  foreigner  has  of 
dealing  with  gluts  as  they  occur.  He  also  argued  that  in  regard  to 
Apples,  no  matter  how  good  ihe  culture  might  be,  there  would  be 
large  fruits  and  small  ones,  and  learned  that  the  American  way  of 
disposing  of  the  latter  is  to  turn  them  into  ‘‘pippins”  or  “rings’? 
by  a  diying  process.  Mr.  IIar|  er  suggested  the  process  to  some  of 
his  fruit  growing  friends,  but  was  met  with  the  replies,  “’T  would  be 
a  lot  of  bother;  ’t would  never  pay,  &c.,”  and  then,  to  prove  the 
matter  for  himself,  he  decided  to  make  the  experiment.  He  obtained  a 
Waas  evaporator  and,  judging  from  the  following  remaiks,  his 
experience  up  to  the  present  must  be  of  a  satisfactory  nature. 
“  I  have  dried  all  kinds  of  Plums,  Damsons,  Apples,  stewing  Pears, 
French  Beans,  Cabbages,  &c.  I  have  not  had  a  single  experiment  go 
wrong,  and  can  say  that  ordinary  average  intelligence  only  is  necessary 
to  insure  most  successful  results.” 
The  following  interesting  particulars  are  then  given  : — 
“  Apples. — Dried  into  pippins.  Original  cost  3s.  per  cwt.  of  good 
culinary  sorts.  When  dried  they  are  one-eighth  original  weight. 
This  increases  the  cost  to  24s.  per  cwt.,  or  2*57d.  per  lb.  Similar 
Pippins  from  America  are  said  to  be  worth  now  5d.  per  lb. 
“  Plums. — Original  cost  2s.  6d.  per  ‘pot  of  90  lbs.;’  sort,  Blaisdon, 
red  ;  when  dried  (with  stones  in)  are  one-third  original  weight.  This 
increases  the  cost  to  Id.  per  lb.  Similar  Californian  Plums  are 
worth  wholesale  44d.  per  lb.  French  (in  bottles),  9d.  per  lb. 
Damsons. — Cost  2s.  per  cwt.;  dry  out  to  one-third  original  weight. 
This  increases  the  cost  to  6s.  per  cwt.,  or  0’64d  per  lb.  No  foreign 
Damsons  are  sent  here  so  far  as  1  know.  Stewing  Pears,  Catillac, 
&c.,  show  very  good  results.” 
After  giving  various  particulars  respecting  labour,  fuel,  storage, 
and  packing,  the  experimentalist  sums  up  his  impressions  as  follows — 
“(a)  That  so  far  as  I  have  gone,  fruit  and  vegetable  drying  is  not 
only  possible,  but  easy  ;  ( b )  that  in  comparison  with  the  prices  of 
foreign  productions  the  industry  would  show  a  very  reasonable  profit  ; 
(c)  that  in  fruits  a  market  already  exists  that  the  quality  that  may 
be  produced  in  England  could  easily  supply  ;  ( d )  that  in  vegetables 
for  soups  and  seasonings  a  market  is  already  at  our  hand,  which  native 
productions  can  supply  ;  (e)  that  £25  is  enough  for  a  small  farmer  to 
pay  for  a  plant  for  preparing  and  drying  his  produce  ;  (/)  this  would 
enable  him  to  deal  with  400  lbs.  of  produce  per  day ;  (y)  £185  to  £200 
for  a  larger  establishment  is  all  the  outlay  necessary  tor  a  complete 
plant  capable  of  dealing  with  from  5000  to  6000  lbs.  of  fresh  produce 
per  day  ;  ( h )  that  the  intelligence  of  our  farmers  ought  to  be  equal  to 
seeing  the  reasonableness  of  the  idea  of  thus  conserving  the  waste  that 
is  so  prevalent  when  Nature  is  more  bounteous  than  usual.” 
This  appears  to  be  the  extent  of  the  experiment  so  far,  as  Mr* 
Harper  states  that  he  hrs  not  yet  p'aced  his  productions  on  the  market? 
As  regards  prices,  however,  he  writes  hopefully,  and  if  this  all- 
important  item  is  satisfactory  the  drying  method  suggests  itself  as 
being  more  economical  than  letting  wholesome  fruit  waste.— G.  H.  H. 
