Page 18 RAIN January 1977 LETTERS Friends, In the spring of 1975, I started the "TRUE SEED EXCHANGE." Its purpose is to contact people who save old varieties of garden seeds and then put them in contact with other gardeners. , This way they can swap and spread their old varieties'and help new gardeners learn how to save their own seed. The Exchange works like this. If you are presently keeping seeds that you know from your pers,onal experi~nce run true- send me your name, ~ddress and a list of the seeds you expect to have at the end of the 1976 gardening season. (This also includes bulbs, plants, root cuttings, grains and legumes.) Sometime next winter, I will h,ave a list printed of all the people's names, addresses and what they have. Anyone can get this list by sending me 50¢ to cover printing ,and mailing costs. Send it now, if you want. The people who participated in the Exchange last ye,ar are really fired up about it, and so am I. It lets serious gardeners in like climates correspond and swap seeds. It will give all of us seeds we can save from year to year (which is not only economical, but may soon be downright vital.) And it will help to spread a lot of old, reliable, superior varieties that rriight otherwise be lost. There must be thousands of older gardeners in our mountain, rural and hill areas who are saving seeds that have been passed down for many generations. I believe that it is of the utmost importance to spread thes~ seeds as much as possible. Please don\ use the Exchange as just a source of free seeds, because it could easily be ruined by more taking than giving. This should really be an exchange among seed savers. I wish you all a beautiful garden this summeL Let's all save extra seed this year from our best. And then share them. True Seed Exchange Kent -Whealy Rural Route 2 Princeton, MO 64673 Dear Rainfriends, As an owner of a Fisher woodstove for over two years I feel I must take issue with Bill Day's dismissal of the stove as a "throwaway~" Even though Mr. Day may have spent two generations repairing woodstoves, it is doubtful that he has seen enough Fishers to make such a generalization. The Fisher model I own is the largest one made, which will handle wood length up to 32 inches·. The welded box is made of 5116 and 114 inch plate steel, not cast iron or sheet metal. The only part of the stove which is cast is the door, which ~s molded tongue-ingroove to prevent unwanted airflow. The draft controls are door-mounted pipe caps welded to 1/2" bolts, which are tap threaded through the door. This allows·for various combinations of air flow, depending on how hot or cool you want your fire. The inside is lined with one-inch fire brick all ac;ross the bottom (32 x 18) and e'ight inches up the sides and rear. In the time the stove has b<';en in use it has required virtually no maintenance. I have sanded and repainted the upper cooking surface (20 x 18) just slightly to eliminate some rusting which occurred due to accumulation of moisture. Also, I've broken six or eight of the fire bricks by jamming wood in with too much force. That's it. I'd like to see a "throwaway" live up to that. I called Barbara Jorgenson, who is the local Fisher dealer, to inquire abou~ the stove's successes or failures since I bought mine. She told me that, contrary to·Bill Day's implication, Fisher stove dealers are not dropping like flies. In fact, there are now forty franchises nationwide. She did say that three early Fisher dealers in the Portland area were priced out of business by the dubious practices of a fourth. Bar:b said that her Lynwood, Washington, shop has sold nearly 2000 stoves in the last two years, and in that space of time only three defective cast doors have required replacement. As for a guarantee,.Barb told me she personally tells every Fisher purchaser that if within thirty days the buyer finds a stove he or she·would rather have, they can have their money back on the Fisher. She says no one has ever come bacl{. for their money. All my dealings with her regarding my stove have been amiable and she has always .satisfactorily answered any questions I've had. If it's of any interest, a friend of mine·from Norway saw my Fisher and said it was superior to the J¢tul. Also, the prices on the Fisher models have .not been raised in two years (mine cost $350 and has probably saved me twice ,that much). Maybe the reason Bill Day thinks the Fishers have faded away is because he'~ never had to repair ~ny. In any case, any future consumer reports should include statistics and detailed background on the products being reviewed. That will avoid misunderstandings such as this one with the Fisher stove. Dear ]ef, Sincerely, Jef Jaisun 12860 136th Ave. NE Kirkland, WA 98033 My criteria for judging woodstove durability requires that they have a life expectancy of 15 to 70 years, depending upon the original investment. Requests for major service (warped door frames, warped sides, inoperable draft controls) on 3- to 4-year-old Fishers are being received now! Please refer to my letter in the FebiMCfrch 1976 issue of RAIN for more details. Bill Day Human Scale While monitoring RAIN subscriptions, I recognized the name of a new subscriber, Kirkpatrick Sale, author of SDS: Ten Years Toward a Revolution (1973), and Power Shift: The Rise of the Southern Rim and Its Challenge to the Eastern Establishment (1975). I wondered if his subscription to RAIN indicated a new project he was ·working on and wrote asking him. And, yes, it is a new project. (RE) Rhoda, I've been working with the idea of doing a book on practical anarchism for, oh·I guess, ten years now, and I finally decided that I had to get around to doing it, both for my peace of mind and so as to put forth an answer to the what-do-these-people want? question that might be important just now, important for the askers both hostile and friendly and for movemental folks who may be floundering a bit.
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