Page 4 



BETTER FRUIT 



August, I pip 



Low headed type of prune orchard in the 



producing sect 



While we did not conduct cliemi- 

 cal analyses on such a scale that we 

 can regard our results as at all con- 

 clusive, nevertheless those we did con- 

 duct indicated that the increase in 

 sugar content was very rapid during 

 the last few days of ripening. From 

 the time the prunes are shaken off 

 until they drop naturally, if not 

 shaken, the increase is 1.6% of their 

 total weight. This increase in weight 

 is practically all sugar and would 

 mean that about 11% of the sugar 

 content has accumulated in that short 

 time. Some studies to determine the 

 differences in specific gravity in 

 prunes in these investigations indi- 

 cated very rapid increase in weight 

 during the last few days before the 

 prunes dropped. The prunes which 

 dropped naturally had a specific grav- 

 ity of .0283 higher than those which 

 were shaken off. During the season 

 of 1913 we used a brine solution of 

 1.0905 density. With this solution one 

 could very easily separate the prunes 

 which were shaken from the trees 

 from those which dropped naturally. 

 Losses from Premature Picking. 



Premature harvesting, then, seems 

 to be the greatest cause of loss in the 

 evaporation of prunes. Unfortunately 

 this premature harvesting and great 

 loss has been encouraged by the fact 

 that some packers offer a premium for 

 early delivery. Other growers, fear- 

 ing rainy weather, practice this early 

 harvesting. Weather records, how- 

 ever, show that rain is as likely to 

 occur early in the month as it is later. 

 Often, if harvesting is delayed, the 

 early rains will cease and good 

 weather will prevail during the re- 

 mainder of the season. This was true 

 during the seasons of 1911 and 1914. 

 During the season of 1914 the ma- 

 jority of growers were well under 

 ■way in their harvesting by September 

 6. In our experimental plots, however, 

 we did not start our picking until Sep- 



Willamette Valley, Orcgiin, the greatest prune 

 ion in the state. 



tember 11 and then obtained only 

 4.22% of the crop in the picking. Re- 

 sults showed that had we waited five 

 or ten days longer we should have 

 gained more, as that portion of the 

 orchard on wliich picking was begun 

 September 11 was not completely har- 

 vested until September 20. 



During the year 1913 we were able 

 to secure some observations in a 

 twenty-acre Italian prune orchard 

 where the owner was harvesting his 

 crop rather early. By harvesting the 

 fruit from a few trees after they drop- 

 ped naturally, as compared with fruit 

 he was shaking vigorously from the 

 trees, we were able to get a good index 

 of his loss in weight. Using the weight 

 of the dried fruit as a basis, we found 

 that he lost 6% of the total weight 

 of his crop by harvesting too early. 

 In addition to this, the immature 

 prunes dried away more than the ripe 

 ones. This resulted in an additional 

 loss of 6% of his crop, making a total 



loss of 12%, or a monetary loss of 

 •fl.").00 a ton due to too early harvest- 

 ing. 



ICxtensive shaking experiments 

 wliieh we carried on during this same 

 season proved that the prunes which 

 dropi)ed naturally in the fruit har- 

 vesting, dried 3 2-'37o heavier than 

 those shaken off. The gain in weight 

 of the finished product for the season 

 was 6.05%, giving us a total of 9.25%, 

 or !?13.87 a ton. 



In obtaining these results we as- 

 sumed that the cost of harvesting was 

 the same in both cases. It must be re- 

 membered, however, that it costs from 

 .?1.00 to .$2.00 a ton to shake green 

 fruit from the trees. This would mean 

 that from S3. 00 to .$6.00 for each ton 

 of dried fruit must be added to the 

 cost of harvesting, where shaking is 

 employed. By watching the fruit 

 carefully one can determine the 

 proper time of harvesting. 



The ideal prune for evaporating is 

 f)ne which is mature, (that is, fully 

 ripe), which drops naturally, is plump 

 and has a golden yellow flesh. If the 

 jjrune is shriveled at the stem, has 

 a fibrous dark-colored flesh, or shows 

 a tendency to become mushy, it will 

 mean that the prune has poor drying 

 qualities. The ideal prune will make 

 a sweet, fine-flavored product, and 

 will give as high as 25 pounds of 

 dried fruit to CO pounds of fresh. 

 Prunes of the second type will give 

 only about 19 pounds of dried fruit 

 to every 60 pounds of fresh, and are 

 dark colored, sour, and tough. Un- 

 doubtedly the question of the produc- 

 tion of prunes, so as to have them 

 mature early and have desirable char- 

 acteristics, is one which needs much 

 study and perhaps extensive experi- 

 mental observations. 



Sorting the Prunes. 



A few of the growers sort out all 

 the decayed prunes at the time the 

 fruit is trayed, but a greater number 

 of the growers depend upon the 

 pickers to gather up only good, sound 

 prunes. We have observed both sys- 

 tems, tried out on an extensive scale, 

 from the point of view of economy. 

 For a number of years we have been 



Prunes as fillers in a walnut orchard in the Willamette Valley, Oregon. 



