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Discussions at Ninth National Apple Show 



Following the Address Given by Dr. J. S. Caldwell, "Cost of Operation and Returns 

 from Evaporated Fruits," which appeared in March Edition of "Better Fruit." 



Question: What is tiie best by-prod- 

 ucts plant to talve care of cull apples'? 



Dr. Caldwell: That brings us back to 

 vinegar plants and evaporators. I should 

 really regret to see any great number of 

 vinegar plants established in the North- 

 west, because I believe in the long run 

 they cannot be profitable. However 

 prices may be at the present, they fluc- 

 tuate rather widely, and we are re- 

 stricted in the area over which we can 

 market such a product on account of 

 bulk and freight rates. The evaporator 

 is inherently more profitable. It will 

 make considerable volume of vinegar 

 from peelings and cores and is more 

 profitable of itself. Canneries cannot 

 handle any very large volume of apples 

 because that market is limited and is 

 not enlarging materially, if at all. 



Question : What would be the approx- 

 imate cost of such a plant? 



Dr. Caldwell: That will depend ui)on 

 the type of building constructed. In a 

 publication which I have on this sub- 

 ject I have recommended three types of 

 evaporators: the old kiln type, which is 

 the least ex])cnsive in construction and 

 operation, but in the long run the qual- 

 ity of the output may be slightly in- 

 ferior; the tunnel type, which is the 

 leading Northwest evaporator and what 

 I have called the all-purpose type. On 

 a basis of eight tons a day, which is 

 about the smallest plant handling 

 apples only, over a season of from 70 

 to 90 days, I should say a fireproof 

 building, fully equipped with all lalxir- 

 saving equipment ought to be built 

 ready to run for $5,800. That includes 

 everything except parer and slicer, 

 which would probably cost .$7.")0 deliv- 

 ered. That includes everything neces- 



sary to begin business with in a fire- 

 proof building. Without fireproof con- 

 struction the cost can be practically 

 what one desires to make it if one 

 wants to take the risk of wood or sheet 

 iron construction. 



Mr. Jacobs: Where can you see such 

 a plant? 



Dr. Caldwell: So far as I can recall 

 there is no strictly fireproof plant in 

 the Northwest. 



Mr. McKee: Eliminate fireproofing, 

 could we find a plant in operation along 

 those lines? 



Dr. Caldwell: D. A. Snyder, Dayton, 

 Oregon, has one of the type of plants 

 described in the bulletin, where you 

 will find figures and descriptions. Has 

 been in operation almost thirty years 

 in that building or its predecessor. 



Question; Over those thirty years, 

 has he been successful in the operation 

 of his plant? 



Dr. Caldwell: Yes, he has. He has 

 the Willamette Valley, of course, for 

 his supply of fruit, and he is unique in 

 that he was the first man to evaporate 

 vegetables and he had that market dur- 

 ing all the period of the opening up of 

 Alaska. Mr. Snyder's plant is unique 

 also in the entire absence of labor- 

 saving equipment that would be con- 

 sidered indispensable in putting up a 

 plant at the |)resent time. Hand labor 

 replaces all labor-saving equipment in 

 his plant. It would be possible to re- 

 construct bis plant so as to increase 

 its capacity and greatly decrease (he 

 labor cost, but he has been successful 

 in spite of that. 



Question: Isn't it true that the liquor 

 manufacturers look a considerable por- 

 tion of the dried smallei- fruits in 



making certain brands of their pro- 

 ducts? 



Dr. Caldwell: That percentage was 

 about 3y2 per cent so far as I can get 

 at the figures. In the aggregate that 

 would cut very little figure. In a nor- 

 mal season the export trade takes some- 

 thing like 68 per cent of tire dried 

 apples, 71 per cent on the prunes and so 

 on down the list. Germany has been 

 our greatest purchaser of dried fruits. 



Mr. McKee; The prohibition laws 

 would increase the demand for cider? 



Dr. Caldwell; Tremendously. 



Question: If the Ben Davis apples 

 were put into the dried process what 

 would be the value? 



Dr. Caldwell: If one were to use 

 the Ben Davis, orchard run, it should 

 be possible to make 45 to 50 per cent 

 extra fancy stock, which would go on 

 the market in small paper cartons for 

 the better retail trade and bring a con- 

 siderably higher price. Someone may 

 say there isn't the demand for that 

 material. It is true only 2% per cent 

 is of that grade now, but there is a con- 

 sistent and strong market for a larger 

 amount of it, and I have in my desk 

 some eight or nine letters from dealers 

 in six states, three of them Southern, 

 asking whether it is not possible, with 

 the finer fruit which we produce, to get 

 from the evaporators extra fancy fruit 

 which they can sell to the fancy gro- 

 ceries. There is a demand for material 

 of that character. 



Question; How do the Gano and 

 Black Ben evaporate? 



Dr. Caldwell; In the dark stock 

 group. That is characteristic of the 

 Black Ben; always sells for a lower 

 price than the Ben Davis. 



Mr. Dean: In the factories here in 

 the Northwest, canneries, evaporators, 

 etc., does the manager have an interest 

 in the factory or is the capital raised 

 entirely by the community? 



Dr. Caldwell: As for the co-operative 

 I)lants the figures show that something 

 like 83 per cent of them have been 

 entire failures; that something like 10 

 per cent of the remainder have never 

 yielded a profit worth mentioning, but 

 have been carried by some other 

 activity in which the co-operative 

 organization was engaged. Wliich 

 leaves only about 10 per cent that are 

 profitable. 



Mr. Dean; The reason I ask is that 

 at Missoula the Chamber of Commerce 

 has funds to finance such a plant, but 

 up to date it has been impossible to 

 find a man who would put any capital 

 in and and act as the manager. 



Dr. Caldwell: I haven't known of 

 any instances in which the failures 

 occurred where the manager was 

 heavily interested in the business, but 

 I haven't looked into that detail. But 

 I have seen a great many salted mines 

 in the way of evaporators. I have seen 

 obsolete plants unloaded by a salesman 

 on a conmuinity at prices it would 

 have brought ten years earlier when it 

 was usable. That is the difliculty with 

 tlic business today; so many communi- 

 ties have sufi'ered in this way. That is 

 the chief difficulty in getting by-prod- 

 ucts plants under way; so many com- 



Continued on page 30 



