Page 6 



BETTER FRUIT 



August, iprp 



wliile with the m;ichinc :ind endless 

 bell method the prunes are separiitely 

 exposed to view both in the feediii.n 

 trough and as they are carried up into 

 the dipi)int' tank. There is also a 

 tendency not to fill the trays to their 

 entire capacity, the average being only 

 80 per cent. This would mean that 

 about 20 percent of the trays are 



in any way injurious to health. From 

 some chemical tests which were made, 

 however, we found that often the 

 rinsing water was as strong in lye as 

 the dipping solution. To overcome 

 this it would be well to have the 

 prunes pass through a second rinsing 

 vat. The ideal way, however, and the 

 one which every prune evaporator 



Table II. Effect of Iiye in the Sipping Process 



Wcii/lil 

 Dipped in lye fresh 



lbs 



Prunes grown on upland 427 



Prunes grown on uplnnd, gi-cen 438 



Prunes grown on lowland 490 



Prunes from lowland, partly dried on ground 444 



Total Average 1799 



Dipped in boiling water 



Prunes grow n on upland 491 



Prunes grown on upland, green 439 



Prunes grown on lowland 495 



Prunes grown on lowland partly dried on ground 266 



Total Average . 



1691 



569 



20.66 



43.8 



either empty or occupied with worth- 

 less fruit. 



The chief advantage to be gained 

 from the use of lye is the shortening 

 of the time required for evaporation. 

 General practice, as well as our ex- 

 periments, would bear out this idea. 

 This difference at times is consider- 

 able, as shown in Table II. 



As is readily seen it required 5.3 

 hours more to dry the unlyed fruit 

 than it did the lyed. The one mis- 

 take made, however, by the strong ad- 

 vocates of lye, is that the shortness 

 of drying time is the main factor con- 

 sidered. 



Lye-Checking. 



Dipping the prunes in lye generally 

 means a considerable loss in weight. 

 From experiments we have been able 

 to conduct we have found this loss to 

 be about 2%. Another point which 

 calls for careful study is that not all 

 prunes in any .single lot will be 

 checked by the same strength of solu- 

 tion. Ripe prunes will check more 

 easily than green prunes. It natu- 

 rally follows, therefore, that under 

 the present methods of harvesting, 

 some prunes will be checked more 

 than others, and we shall find that 

 either the ripe prunes will be checked 

 too much, or else the green ones will 

 not be checked at all. This, of course, 

 is another argument in favor of grad- 

 ing. It is interesting to note that 

 those prunes which would normally 

 dry more quickly without the check- 

 ing are the ones always checked. On 

 the other hand, if there were many 

 prunes left unchecked, it would be 

 those that would dry more slowly 

 without checking. Should the lye so- 

 lution be made strong enough to check 

 the green fruit, the riper fruit would 

 be so badly checked that the same 

 relative difference in drying would 

 obtain. On the other hand, lye- 

 checked prunes tend to dry more un- 

 evenly than those dipped for clean.s- 

 ing purposes only. 



Sanitary Rinsing. 

 Another disadvantage connected 

 with dipping is the question of sani- 

 tation. It is very doubtful if, under 

 any method of dipping, there is suf- 

 ficient accumulation of alkali to be 



should attempt to adopt, would be to 

 install a water system so that rinsing 

 vats would have a flowing stream of 

 water. Where this cannot be done 

 both the dipping and rinsing vats 



should be fiequently emptied and 

 thoroughly cleaned. We should all 

 aim to maintain the best sanitation 

 possible. Clean, sweet, wholesome 

 fruit is the f)nly kind which will build 

 up a permanent reputation 

 Boiling Water. 



Some growers have tried the boil- 

 ing Waaler and claim they cannot se- 

 cure results. We know it is possible, 

 however, to secure splendid results 

 with boiling water, as demonstrated 

 in our own experiments and also by 

 our observations with a number of 

 growers who are turning out a good, 

 first-class product. Investigations have 

 shown that occasionally where men 

 have claimed to use boiling water, 

 they have simply used hot, or even 

 merely warm water. This would not 

 tend to check the fruit as would the 

 boiling water. 



To those growers who prefer to use 

 lye, we can say that no serious objec- 

 tion can be raised to the practice, if 

 cleanliness is observed and an abund- 

 ance of good rinsing water is always 

 supplied. 



Peach Picking and Packing for Fancy Trade 



WHEN picking peaches they should 

 be firm, well matured with a 

 good color, but not soft in the least. 

 Peaches should be picked as soon as 

 they will leave the free without break- 

 ing the stem from the tree or tear the 

 meat of the peach when the stem is 

 pulled out. They should come off 

 good and clean. Care should be ex- 

 ercised in selecting picking utensils as 

 the peach is one of the most perish- 

 able of fruits. Pails and baskets 

 should be lined with burlap or some 

 other soft material. 



The Colorado Pack. 

 The peach boxes used in Colorado 

 are three sizes, in depth four inches, 

 four and four and one-half inches 

 and five inches; eleven and one-half 

 inches in width and eighteen inches 

 in length, inside measurement. There 

 are three grades of peaches as to size. 



Some fine Asiiland, Oregon, peaches. 



extra or 80, fancy or 90, choice or 

 108, and only one grade as to quality. 

 All peaches should be perfect. 



The choice grade is the smallest 

 peach wrapped, and is graded in three 

 sizes. By packing a 3x3 pack, the No. 

 1 size makes six rows across the box, 

 with nine peaches long, making fifty- 

 four peaches to the layer, or one hun- 

 dred and eight to the box. Size 2, with 

 six rows across the box, three rows 

 nine long and three rows eight long 

 will make fifty-one to the layer, or one 

 hundred and two to the box. Size 3, 

 with six rows across the box, eight 

 long will make forty-eight to the laye; 

 or ninety-six to the box. 



The fancy grade is packed the same 

 as the choice, except the rows contain 

 less peaches. This grade is in two 

 sizes. Size 1, with six rows, three 

 rows eight long, and three rows seven 

 long, makes forty-five to the layer, or 

 ninety to the box. Size 2, with six 

 rows seven long, makes forty-two to 

 the layer, or eighty-four to the box. 



The extra grade runs from forty 

 to seventy-eight peaches to the box 

 and are packed the same as the choice 

 and fancy, except the very large ones, 

 and these are packed a 3x2 pack, with 

 five rows across the box instead of 

 six. There are nine packs of this 

 grade: One, six rows, three seven 

 long and three rows six long, thirty- 

 nine to the layer, or seventy-eight; 

 two, six rows, three rows six long and 

 three rows six long, thirty-six to the 

 layer, or seventy-two; three, six rows, 

 three rows six long and three rows 

 five long, thirty-three to the layer, or 

 sixty-six; four, six rows, three rows 

 five long and three rows five long, 

 thirty to the layer, or sixty; five, five 

 rows, three rows six long and three 

 rows five long, thirty to the layer, or 

 sixty; six, five rows, two rows six 

 long and three rows five long, twenty- 

 Continued on page 27. 



