92 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



of small evaporators by every household in the land. Even those who 

 have little or no orchard of their own, have their small evaporators and 

 work up fruit on shares for others who have more than they can use, 

 receiving one half the product. 



It is always said that the poor man has the largest family of children, 

 and herein is his wealth, in this case at least, for he needs no outside help. 

 I know of many such cases where money thus saved has been used for 

 the first payment on a good farm with large orchards, and all subsequent 

 payments were met by the evaporator. Such men could not have invested 

 in an evaporator costing very much; but the small ones costing only $20 

 or $30 were within his reach, and through this he laid the foundation for a 

 good home and future prosperity. 



My own recollections commenced in the typical log house of western 

 New York, with its broad" fireplace and " stick" chimney. On one side of 

 the low door was the lilac bush and on the other the fragrant syringa, 

 where the little birds always nested. Near by was the tansy bed and a 

 few jjlants of wormwood, to remind these early settlers that bitter was 

 always near to the sweet in this world. Every evening during the fall, 

 father, mother, brothers, and sisters, and the hired help, gathered in a 

 wide circle around the great fireplace with its blazing logs; a few baskets 

 of apples or peaches were ranged in front, while on the table stood a huge 

 wooden bowl, into which the quarters were thrown, and we younger 

 children gathered around this with our needles and strings of tow spun 

 from the waste of the flax used in making our summer clothes, to string 

 the apples, for drying. Machines were unknown, all the work being done 

 by hand. Strings of apples were hanging on each side, and over the fire- 

 place, and from the chamber floor timbers overhead, and wherever else 

 they could be dried. 



The first step in advance from this was the use of boards to spread the 

 apples upon without stringing. But a few wet days made trouble. These 

 racks were made to suspend over the stove and around it. From this "the 

 transition was easy to a room set apart for the purpose and a stove placed 

 in it for drying the fruit, but the danger of firing the house led to building 

 a small house away from other buildings for the purpose. This was 

 termed a dry-house. We dried apples then; now we evaporate them. 



In 1857 a man by the name of Mason of Marion, N. Y., brought out a 

 little portable dry-house with a sheet-iron heater that has done more for 

 the industry than any other ever invented. Thousands of them were sold 

 and despite all the improvements in all of these years, thousands of them 

 are in use now in Wayne county, N Y. ; and just as good work is done by 

 them as by the large evaporators, one with capacity for ten to twelve 

 bushels per day costing only from $20 to $25. 



This cheap evaporator is of the greatest value to the small-fruit grower. 

 If the market drops for a day the surplus can be dried, or if at any time 

 continued wet weather hinders the pickers until the berries are too soft 

 for market they can be saved in this way. In this line, a very important 

 industry has sprung up in the state of New York, namely, the growing of ' 

 black-cap raspberries expressly for evaporating, the average profit being 

 about $100 per acre. 



I would just add in connection with this that the patent on the Mason 

 evaporator expired years ago and any one who chooses can build and use 

 them. I can give plans to those desiring. 



