554 
JOURNAL  ON  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER,  Juiie  30,  1904. 
Sawdust. 
On  page  544  of  tlie  Journal  in  your  report  of  the  last  meet¬ 
ing  of  the  ll.H.S.  Scientihc  Committee,  it  was  suggested  that  saw- 
'^5en  burnt  and  mixed  with  sifted  earth  had  been  proved 
to  be  a  valuable  top-dressing  manure.  In  my  home  here,  owing 
to  lack  of  overhead  cisterns  we  are  forced  to  use  earth  closets 
both  inside  and  out.  As  I  found  it  hard  to  keep  up  a  sufficient 
supply  of  dry  earth  I,  two  years  back,  adopted  the  system  of 
sawdust  closets.  The  pans  are  emjitied  every  morning  into  a 
large  pit  about  3ft  deep,  vliich,  when  full,  is ‘“fired.”  Luckily 
I  have  plenty  of  dead  and  dry  wood,  for  the  material  to  be 
burned  is  naturally  rather  wet.  The  fire  has  to  be  seen  to 
morning  and  evening,  and  takes  about  three  weeks  to  burn 
through  I  have  found  this  burnt  sawdust  and  night  soil  a  most 
valuable  top-dressing. — Mid-Bucks. 
P.S.  I  may  add  that  I  live  just  opposite  a  large  sawmill 
and  So  am  in  luck’s  way  as  regards  getting  my  material.  ’ 
The  Drying  of  Fruits. 
must  be  di^iped  in  a  boiling  lye  solution,  the  proportion  of  lye, 
however,  being  very  small,  say  Jib  to  25galls  of  water.  This 
refers  to  98  per  cent,  lye  or  caustic  soda. 
The  object,  as  with  the  Grapes,  is  to  hasten  the  process  of 
curing  by  “cutting”  the  natural  oils  in  the  skin  of  the  fruit. 
Otherwise,  the  Plums  would  be  so  slow  in  drying  that  many 
would  sour  at  the  stone,  and  many  others  would  form  “  frog- 
bellies  ”  or  “bloaters,”  names  which  are  significant  enough  to 
the  practical  man.  Plums  which  are  cut  or  halved  before  dry¬ 
ing  must  not,  of  course,  be  dipped,  but  light  coloured  plums  are 
subjected  to  the  fumes  of  sulphur  immediately  after  being  cut, 
in  order  that  tlieir  light  colour  may  be  preserved,  and  that  the 
fruit  will  keep  better  afterwards.  Light  coloured  Plums  which 
are  dried  Avhole,  and,  thus  made  into  “Prunes,”  such  as  Coe’s 
Golden  Drop,  St.  Catherine,  Arc.,  are  also  sulphured  after  having, 
been  dipped. 
Plums  suitable  for  drying  must  be  naturally  sugary,  and  the 
flesh  must  part  freely  at  the  stone ;  therefore,  it  would  not  seem 
that  Damsons  would  be  suitable,  and,  with  us,  a  drier-meated 
freestone  would  be  considered  better  for  the  purpose  even  than 
Green  Gage,  however  good  its  quality.  The,  drying  of  Goose¬ 
berries,  Currants,  Cherries,  Ac.,  has  never  been  found  profit¬ 
able,  the  expense  in  handling  and  the  loss  by  evaporation  being 
so  great.  There  are  in  the  United  States  many  appliances: 
steam  heat  and  dry  air,  and  of  capacity  suited  to  the  cottager 
with  his  few  bushels  of  surplus  crop  to  any  “  organised  ”  body 
of  fruit  growers  with  hundreds  or  thousands  of  tons  of  fruit 
to  be  cared  for.  Should  the  subject  be  of  sufficient  interest  in 
view  of  the  coming  crop  of  fruit,  I  should  be  glad  to  describe 
more  in  detail  any  of  the  processes  in  vogue  in  California  neces¬ 
sary  to  the  handling  and  caring  for  of  a  large  crop  of  fruit. — 
Leonard  Coates,  14,  Hart  Street,  Henley-on-Thames. 
As  supplementary  to  your  notes  in  the  Journal  of  June  23, 
relative  to  a  recent  article  in  the  '^JEstate  Magazine’’  descrip- 
five  of  the  methods  of  drying  fruits  in  Asia  Minor,  I  will,  with 
your  permission,  explain  briefly  the  modus  oiycrandi  under 
similar  circumstances  in  California,  where  I  have  been  engaged 
in  the  business  for  the  last  28  years.  I  would  suggest  first, 
however,  that  more  attention  given  to  the  bottling  or  otherwise 
preserving  of  a  surplus  fruit  crop  would,  in  the  British  Isles, 
be  more  likely  to  be  remunerative  and  less  riskv,  than  to  dry  or 
“evaporate”  the  same,  either  by  sun  heat  or  artificiallv,  the 
objection  to  the  former  plan  being  absence  of  sun,  and  to  the 
latter  the  too  expensive,  item  of  fuel  for  heating  and  the  labour 
incident  thereto. 
In  the  raisin  districts  of  California  (and  the  output  of  raisins 
averages  annually  about  100.000  tons)  the  main  crop,  consisting 
of  Muscat  of  Alexandria,  iNluscatelle,  Gordo  Blanco,  Sultana 
and  Thompson  Seedless^  is  picked  and  laid  upon  small  wooden 
trays  which  are  placed  on  the  ground  in  the  roivs  between  the 
Vines.  The  Vines  are  generally  trained  very  low  so  that  the 
raisins  are  not  unduly  shaded.  When  partly  cured  on  one  side, 
an  empty  tray  is  placed  on  a  full  one,  and  two  men,  by  a  swift 
turn,  change  the  raisins  so  that  the  under  side  is  on  top.  When 
nearly  dry,  the  rai.sins  are  put  into  “sweat  boxes,”  holding 
about  1501b  of  raisins,  and  so  hauled  to  the  packing  houses, 
where  they  are  properly  graded  and  packed.  It  will  be  noticed 
that  the  Grapes  are  not  dipped,  as  they  are  in  Asia  Minor, 
according  to  the  writer  referred  to,  and  that  they  are  dried  on 
wooden  trays  instead  of  being  spread  on  the  ground.  The 
second  crop  of  Muscats  generally  goes  to  the  vineries  for  con¬ 
verting  into  sweet  wines  and  brandies,  unless  the  price  offered 
be  too  low,  in  which  case  they  are  dipped  for  %  few  seconds  in 
a  weak  solution  of  boiling  lye.  The  only  object  of  this  is  to 
“check”  the  skins,  or,  in  other  words,  to  “cut”  the  natural 
oil  ill  tiiG  skill  so  tliat  tlie  fruit  will  dry  Cjuickly.  Ry  tlio  timo 
the  second  crop  is  ripe  the  autumn  is  "far  advanced',  the  time 
being  late  October,  and  rains  may  soon  be  expected,  hence  the 
necessity  for  hastening  the  curing  process.  These  raisins  are 
known  in  the  market  as  “  Valencias.”  Years  ago  some  of  our 
growers  tried  the  experiment  of  u.sing  various  “dips,”  which 
practice  has  been  given  up,  with  two  exceptions,  for  the  reason 
that  the  keeping  qualities  of  the  fruit,  as  well  as  its  flavour 
were,  in  the  end,  injured  thereby.  The  Thompson  Seedless 
Grape,  an  improvement  on  the  old  Sultana,  is  sometimes 
“  dipped,”  the  object  in  this  case  being  to  “  bleach  ”  the  fruit, 
the  market  demanding  a  certain  quantity  of  a  light  amber 
coloured  seedless  raisin. 
The  suggestion  is  also  made  that  Plums,  Green  Gages,  and 
Damsons  seem  specially  fitted  for  drving.  It  is  to  be  presumed 
that  the  great  Plum  for  drying,  the  “French  Plums”  of  the 
British  market,  does  not  succeed  in  the  British  Isles.  This  is 
the  Prune  d’Agen,  Lot  d’Kiite,  Iinperiale,  Robe  de  Sergent, 
Ac.,  all  being  but  types  or  sub-varieties  of  the  Prune  d’Agen, 
grown  about  Agen  and  through  the  valley  of  the  Lot  in  France. 
It  might  he  stated,  incidentally,  that  we  have,  in  California, 
produced  seedlings  and  crosses  fi-om  this  French  variety  which 
are  considerably  earlier  in  ripening,  as  well  as  being  equal  in 
quality  and  of  larger  size,  the  trees  being  exceptionally  hardy 
and  great  bearers.  These  should  succeed  in  England,  in  any 
of  the  Plum  di.stricts.  Plums,  of  whatever  kind,  if  dried  whole. 
- HN - 
Peaches  on  Walls. 
In  his  interesting  leader  in  the  issue  of  June  23,  “K.” 
touches  upon  this  subject.  There  is  not  the  slightest  doubt  in 
my  mind  (and  here  my  opinion  is  in  complete  accord  with  that 
enunciated  by  “  K.”)  that  the  chief  reason  of  the  failure  of 
these  on  outside  walls  during  recent  years  has  been  owing  to 
neglect  and  lack  of  attention.  One  is  frequently  told  that  the 
seasons  in  latter  years  have  changed  for  the  worse.  Unfor¬ 
tunately  so  have  numbers  of  wall  trees,  and  inspection  of  a 
number  of  gardens  reveals  that  the  Peach  has  suffered  more 
than  any.  More  unfortunate  still  is  it  to  know  that  this  state 
of  affairs  is  not  always  the  fault  of  the  gardener.  The  cheapen¬ 
ing  of  glass  structures  may  be  responsible  in  some  measure  for 
the  lack  of  interest  displayed  in  this  phase  of  gardening  ;  but 
we  must  look  further  than  this  to  discover  why  so  many  trees 
are  annually  to  be  found  in  such  a  deplorable  condition.‘  Badly 
tended  as  to  di.sbudding  and  training,  all  too  frequently  infested 
with  both  aphides  and  red  spider;  in  dry  seasons  receiving  iittle 
or  no  attention  in  respect  of  watering.  ‘  It  is,  I  fear,  the  excep¬ 
tion  rather  than  the  rule  to  find  healthy  trees  carrying 
respectable  crops  of  fruit ;  yet  there  is  no  reason  whatever  why 
in  the  South  and  more  favoured  parts  of  the  iMidlands  this 
should  be  the  case.  Succe.ss  is  readily  attainable  if  the  needtul 
labour  and  knowledge  is  brought  to  bear  in  tending  the 
trees. — J. 
British  Gardeners’  Association. 
Above  the  name  of  Richard  Morningside,  a  very  choice  con¬ 
tribution  to  the  above  subject  appeared  on  page  540  of  last 
week’s  Journal.  So  choice,  indeed,  was  the  flow  of  language 
that  I  feel  constrained  to  set  down  side  by  side  a  few  of  the 
figments  of  speech  culled  from  the  letter  in  question.  The  fol¬ 
lowing  expressive  adjectives  adorned  a  criticism  of  about  thirty 
lines  :  “  Aspersive  letter  ”  ;  “  calumnious  statement  ”  ;  “  vitriolic 
language”;  splenetic  raillery”;  truly  the  cause  must  be  a 
weak  one  when  so  much  vituperation  is  required  from  its  cham¬ 
pion  :  and  the  Aveakne,ss  seems  .still  more  pronounced  when  one 
considers  that  the  choice  language  referred  to  was  used  with 
the  apparent  object  of  smoothing  over  difficulties  and  creating 
a  child-like  trust  in  the  wirepullers  of  the  newly  formed 
Gardeners’  A.ssociation.  And  now  let  us  see  what  all  this 
invective  was  directed  against.  Why,  nothing  more  or  less 
than  the  thoroughly  British  proceeding  of  exhorting  the  great 
body  of  gardeners  to  “stand  up  for  the  open  door,”  and  for 
“equal  justice  for  all,”  and  not  to  support  a  .society  which  is 
so  constituted,  that  it  may  be  converted  into  a  gigantic  trust 
for  the  benefit  of  the  friends  of  the  ““  inner  circle.” 
How  any  right-minded  individual  could  so  misconstrue  the 
latter  statement  as  to  term  it  a  calumnious  one,  is  to  me  incon¬ 
ceivable.  Let  us  take  for  granted  that  the  present  governing 
body  is  absolutely  unimpeachable,  but  have  we  any  guarantee 
that  their  measures  will  be  above  reproach  too?  The  strength 
and  prosperity  of  a  society — or  a  nation — can  only  be  mai!i- 
tained  when  the  statutes  on  which  its  constitution  is  founded 
are  so  framed  as  to  prevent,  as  far  as  possible,  abuse  of  privilege 
