198 Agrictultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 



from three to five days and the picture shows the way in which it is 

 ordinarily done. Platforms or trays about twelve feet long and 

 three to four feet wide are made of matched boards. A 

 narrow strip is nailed around the edge of each tray to prevent the 

 berries from rolling off. ^he trays rest upon long horses made of 

 scantling, to hold them at a convenient height from the ground. A 

 little block is tacked across each corner of the trays bo that at night or 

 in case of a shower they can be stacked up on top of each other and 

 covered with boards or canvass. This is of necessity a slow way of 

 drying and the cost of lumber for trays to handle a large crop would 

 be an item of considerable expense. One of the chief objections to the 

 method, however, is the large number of flies which it calls to the scene. 

 This does not tend to render the fruit an appetizing product, and must 

 act against all dried raspberries in market among those who are familiar 

 with the method. Sun-dried raspberries are usually quoted about one 



Drying berries out of doors. 



cent a pound below evaporated berries, but consumers can never be sure 

 which they are getting. It is possible that these trays might be 

 covered with fly netting, but this would increase the time needed for 

 drying, and even that does not wholly obviate the difficult}^, unless the 

 netting is held above the fruit in some way. A recent attempt to dry 

 blackberries under glass when covered with netting proved such a 

 failure, inducing so much more molding, that it can hardly be 

 recommended. 



Drying under Glass. — Another method employed by those who 

 have greenhouses for the winter forcing of vegetables, is to utilize 

 the space under the glass during the berry season for this purpose. 

 The cut is reproduced from a photograph taken in a forcing-house 

 on the farm of J. W. Corbett, near Watkins, N. Y., in the sum- 

 mer of 1892, and is an excellent illustration of this plan of drying. 

 In this situation the berries usually dry in about three days in 

 bright warm weather and are of course less liable to injury from 



