August, igip 



convinced that there is a distinct ad- 

 vantage in having the pickers gather 

 everything, the rotten, undesirable 

 fruit being sorted out before it is 

 trayed. With such a system t'lp'-" is 

 very little poor fruit to bother Im 

 pickers after the first picking, while 

 if this is not done, the decayed fruit 

 is constantly accumulating, thus mak- 

 ing the picking more difficult and 

 disagreeable. 



With either system, some sorting will 

 need to be done in the evaporator, and 

 it is well to have some one man in 

 the evaporator responsible for all the 

 sorting, in order that more uniform 

 and satisfactory results may be ob- 

 tained. This can perhaps be more 

 economically done by emptying the 

 prunes on endless belts, which carry 

 them past the sorter to the dipping 

 machine. 



Brown-Rot Infection. 



There is one very good argument 

 against mixing decayed fruit with 

 sound fruit and that is the danger of 

 infection from brown rot. Most of 

 the rotten prunes are attacked by a 

 fungous disease known as brown rot 

 (Sclerotina fructigena). This disease 

 will spread very rapidly from de- 

 cayed fruit to sound fruit whenever 

 conditions are suitable and often th'^ 

 loss from such sources is very great 

 after the prunes have been delivereM 

 to the evaporator and have been al- 

 lowed to stand around in a warm, 

 moist atmosphere for a considerable 

 length of time. It would be well if 

 there was some system whereby these 

 rotten prunes could be removed from 

 the orchard, and thus prevent them 

 serving as a menace to future crops. 

 Picking Up Prunes. 

 Prunes are picked from the ground 

 and placed in lug boxes which will 

 hold about 60 pounds. The price paid 

 the pickers ranges from 5 to 10 cents 

 a box, depending on the season, crop, 

 etc. From 30 to 40 boxes is con- 

 sidered a fair amount for ten hours 

 work under normal conditions. There 

 are times when many pickers far ex- 

 ceed this average, due to very favor- 

 able conditions. It is desirable after 

 the fruit has been placed in the lug 

 boxes to have it removed to the evapo- 

 rator as soon as possible. 

 Yield of Fruit. 

 The question is often asked as to 

 how many pounds of dried prunes 

 one should expect to the acre. This 

 is an extremely hard question to an- 

 swer. The condition of the fruit (that 

 is, the degree of its maturity, weather 

 conditions, methods of drying, age 

 and vitality of the orchard, etc.), all 

 exert an influence. At the time we 

 made our survey of 700 orchards we 

 found this kind of information very 

 difficult to secure. The range of 

 yields was wide. One might natu- 

 rally expect this, owing to the fact 

 that the orchards differed widely; 

 many of them were very old, while 

 others were just coming into bearing. 

 By chocking up with packers, as well 

 as with growers, we were able to 

 strike a pretty fair average. The maxi- 

 mum yield reported was 8,000 pounds 



BETTER FRUIT ^"^' ^ 



of dried fruit to the acre. There small and overripe prunes in order 

 were a large number of reports ex- to avoid sorting. By spreading the 

 ceeding 4,000 pounds an acre. The fruits of the same size on a tray, they 

 minimum yield reported was 500 tend to evaporate in about the same 

 pounds The average yield of the length of time. This would materially 

 bearing orchads was about 2,800 reduce the amount of checking and 

 pounds of dried fruit to the acre. would hasten drying, as it would rc- 

 Prenarlne Fruit for Evaporation. lieve many of the trays sooner It 

 preparing ± nut iorx,vapuiai, would permit, also, at the same time 

 It is very desirable to evaporate the ;^j^«"''^\jP^i„,ti^„ ^^ worthless fruit, 

 fruit as soon as possible after har- ^"^ decayed fruit, which often 

 vesting. Unfortunately, fruit IS sonie- ,"^?, ^^ ^^o, much tray space. By act- 

 times carried to the evaporator and ^a observations 6% of the tray space 



'^:. '.r- T^-'.^s ™T -r pies™; ^i p- -;;»« »•■ -» »■»- --- 



in such boxes, will tend to .spread ^S '^ practiced, 



rapidlv. There is considerable hu- Dipping, 



midity in the atmosphere around the There seems to be a great differ- 



prune evaporators and the tempera- ence of opinion among the growers 



ture will often range from 90 to 115 concerning the question of dipping, 



degrees. This condition is especially We find that some prunes are dipped 



favorable for the spread of fungus, in hot lye water, some in boning 



and the loss from this source at times water, some in cold water, and some 



is very high. Again, these conditions are dried without even dipping. Yet 



encourage the fermentation of sugars all these men are able to market their 



in the fruit; our observations revealed crop at standard prices, 



a considerable amount of such fer- Where lye is used, the. average 



mentation. Fermentation always means strength is one pound of lye to from 



a loss of sugar and a final loss of thirty to fifty gallons of water. The 



weight in the dried fruit, as well as cost of dipping in lye will vary tre- 



deterioration in quality. The sooner mendously according to whether the 



the prunes can be placed in the trays, work is done by hand or by machin- 



the less danger there is of loss. ery. During our survey we found 



Grading that, on the whole, machine dipping 



From observations "we have been ^-'^d ^1 ''rnd^'Zlnl' costing' ml- 

 able to make and from experiments ^^J^V mor'e'" V^^'a modfrf powe'r 

 we have conducted, we are inclined teriaiiy nioie. vv<i k 



to believe that it would pay to grade --^J^dir^^n" ra; from sU't'o 6o5 



the prunes before they are placed on prunes, uif- ''""'"*■' „. . -. .j^: 



the travs for evaporation. The greater boxes in ten hours. Jhe c^o^/ °' ^^'^ 



'■' i>".' ' . . ^. J • c pniire oneration would varv to a cer- 



the variation in size and ripeness of ™g^°P^[Xt would average about 



prunes the greater will be the per- ^^m extent, uui """ cmiller evan- 



centage of dobies. The percentage of one cent a tray. J" ^e smaller evap 



dobies is also increased by premature orators, where a small tonnage is han 



harvesting. Under normal conditions died, the regidar drying crew would 



the percentage of dobies, due to un- be able to do the traying during spare 



evenness in size, is about 3%, but may time. In such cases the depreciation 



run as high as 8%. In addition to for each tray would be greater than 



this, the dipping in lye also seems to jf j^e machine were running to its 



encourage uneven drying. It would ^^jj capacity. Even then, however, 



seem wise, therefore, to practice grad- ^j^^ g^^j of traying would probably 



ing, dividing the prunes into at least ^^ j^^^ ^j^^^^ .^^.jjj^ gj^^ other method, 

 three sizes. While such grading can exprimental work, one man did 



be done by hand, and is being done dipping by hand, two men spread 



by hand by many growers, we wish jne ".'PP/^^ ";"'*• , , ', y^ 



to call attention to the fact that it is the fruit on the trajs ""d two did 



possible to purchase machines on the some sorting and stacking the trayed 



market that can be adjusted to peaches, fruit on trucks. The figures in table 



Table I. Cost of Dipping and Traying 



»f„«h«^ Cost per Cost per 



Method poumi 



,. J i Oil $.000314 



Machine dipped • "-^^o .000770 



Hand dipped and spread in water "" 000 156 



Additional cost due to liand dipping V V ■':, ii'ix 



Additional cost of traying hand-dipped prunes per ton of dried »"•'• 



Cost of Drjring' Per Ton of Dried Fruit 



Machine dipped *?«'«?, 



Hand dipped and spread in water ■^"•"° .j gfi 



Increase in cost of drying due to hand dipping 2 73 



Increase in cost of traying due to hand dipping ' 



$(} 99 



Total increase in cost o'^O 



Received from sale of rotten prunes ' 



$4 29 

 Net loss per ton due to hand dipping ^ • 



prunes, apricots, and even cherries. 1 are of interest concerning the dif- 



These machines, which can be pur- ference in cost of the two methods, 

 chased at prices ranging from !f50 to With hand dipping there seems to 



,?100 have a capacity of from 25 to be a tendency for more decayed truit 



50 Ions " to get on the trays than is true with 



Where prunes are ungraded, the machine dipping. By the hand method 



general tendency is to overdry the an entire box is handled at a time, 



