STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 377 



except at gathering time. A poitlnn ot the fruit thus produced was 

 prepared for winter by drying, a portion manufactured into cider and 

 a hirge portion fed to cattle and swine or suffered to decay where it 

 had fallen. 



The method of drying wns almost exclusively used among the 

 farmers to preserve their winter stock. Let us look in upon the 

 process, saj- fifty years ago. Towards nightfall a few baskets of 

 the fairest and best of the apples were gathered and brought into 

 the kitchen, and after the members of the family gathered from 

 their daily employment the evening was spent in api)lc paring ; 

 father, mother, l)rothers and sisters, each with knife in hand, com- 

 mence the tedious operation. Each apple was taken singly, slowly 

 peeled by hand, cut in quarters, the core removed and passed to 

 the 3'ouuger children for stringing. This pi-ocess was accompanied 

 at every step by litter and weariness, and absorbing the time of the 

 whole family. And not of a single evening only, but for weeks 

 shutting away more congenial and profitable employment. The 

 united efforts of an ordinary family could prepare for drying perhaps 

 five bushels in an evening. But the preparation of the fruit for 

 drying was by no means the end of the tedious process. Poles must 

 be erected in a sunny place, the fruit carried out mornings ai;d 

 brought in evenings for several days, perhaps weeks, before suitably 

 dried. For the sun being depended upon for drying, the process 

 was stopped on cloudy weather, and at the prospect the fruit must 

 be returned to shelter. The result of all this labor, care and time 

 was an average of say five pounds of dried apple to the bushel, 

 worth in barter five cents per pound, making an aggregate of 

 twenty-five cents per bushel for the best of the fruit. ())• more 

 concisely, a family of five [)repare for drying five bushels of fruit per 

 evening. A large amount of time must be consumed in clearing 

 awa}' litter, attending the drying, packing and carrying to market, 

 making a total of forty hours' time, equal to four days of ten hours' 

 each for twenty-five pounds of dried fruit. This could be sold on 

 an average of five cents per pound, making one dollar and twenty- 

 five cents for four days' time, — thirty-one and one-fourth cents per 

 day, leaving nothing for the fruit. If we call the fruit twenty-five 

 cents per bushel nothing remains for labor. Some improvements 

 were made by introducing simple machinery for the more rapid 

 preparation of the fruit, and some in the fruit itself by better 



