200 Agkicultukal Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 



emphasizes this point very strongly. In some of the large horizontal 

 machines, it is necessary to secure this draft by means of large fans 

 revolved by steam power. With many of the machines in use the 

 fruit is put in at the lower end ; the trays follow one after the other 

 and can only be taken out at the opposite end, necessitating a two 

 story building if it is an upright stack. This plan possessess the 

 advantage of utilizing all the space in the stack, but, on the other hand, 

 it possesses some decided disadvantages. All the trays must be carried 

 down stairs or let down through the floor each time they are used, or 

 carried back the length of the evaporator if it is a horizontal machine. 

 Moreover, all the work must be timed and a tray put in just so often, other- 

 wise it may reach the top too green and all operations must stop and 

 wait till it is dry, or two or three trays must be put together and be 

 sent through the whole length again with the chances that the first will 

 then be dried altogether too much. If put in too slow, or if fruit is 

 not coming in quite fast enough to keep the business going, it may be 

 too dry when it reaches the top the first time. This is especially dis- 

 advantageous if it happens to be necessary to dry different kinds of 

 fruit which do not require the same length of time in the evaporator. 

 In a machine in which the trays are carried on hangers attached to an 

 endless chain subject to the coutrol of the operator, all this difficulty is 

 done away. The trays are put in and taken out at the same place, and 

 any tray can be brought around to the door and examined as often as 

 desired and taken out when ready. In putting in fruit, one tray, only, 

 is usually placed on a hanger at a time, so that in the natural course of 

 the work every tray comes under the eye of the " stackman " as often 

 as it needs to be examined. 



I have no accurate figures as to the cost of evaporating, but it can 

 be inferred approximately from the price which evaporators charge 

 other parties for doing the work. In some sections this charge is one 

 cent per quart, in others as low as two cents per pound. Two and a half 

 cents per pound appears lo be a fair price for drying and cleaning, and 

 as the evaporator owner of course expects to make some profit, the 

 actual cost must be somewhat below this. The yield varies somewhat 

 in different years, so that one cent a quart may mean from three to 

 four cents a pound. 



The berries are taken from the machine when still so soft and juicy 

 that to an inexperienced person it does not seem that they could possi- 

 bly be kept from spoiling. They are placed on the floor or in bins in a 

 curing room somewhere about the building, and are shoveled over 

 every day for about three weeks. By this time any excessive moisture 



