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GUAVA FRUIT PULP. 



Although the remarkal)le fecundity and capacity for reproduc- 

 tion of the Guava has earned for this plant an unenviable 

 reputation almost equal to that bestowed upon the less useful 

 Lantana, for 'taking possession of pasture land, yet there is very 

 little doubt that if properly attended to, a very profitable return 

 might be derived from the fruit. Tn many of the outlying dis- 

 tricts of the islands, upon land which has either been abandoned 

 to this plant and those of similar capacity for encroachment, or 

 upon tracts which have heretofore been uncultivated on account 

 of their stirility, enormous quantities of wholesome fruits are al- 

 lowed to go to waste. This might all be used to profitable ad- 

 vantage if a system of fruit-pulping were introduced similar to 

 that which is employed in many of the agricultural districts of 

 France. The general scope of the method suggested is for the 

 local growers or pickers to preserve the guava pulp in large 

 containers, by an inexpensive and simple plan, and in this form 

 to send it to a central jelly factory for future use. 



The pulping is in France usually conducted on a large scale, 

 but it should also be as easily and advantageously carried on 

 with smaller quantities of fruit. The apparatus used consists 

 merely of a copper pan and a metal tank. The fruit to be pulped 

 should, after removal of the rind, be placed in the copper pan 

 and heated to boiling, during which process it should be con-' 

 tinually stirred with a w^ooden spoon. After boiling for a sufft- 

 cient time it should then be emptied into tin containers which 

 are soldered up. The tins are then removed to the metal tank 

 in which they are immersed in boiling water for about twenty 

 minutes. During this process, if any of the tins are not sufifi- 

 ciently soldered it wall be detected, and in this case they must 

 be removed. The quality of the product depends on the degree 

 of cleanliness observed, in the care which is exercised to pre- 

 vent burning during the process of boiling, in the kind of tins 

 employed and in the manner of soldering. If thoroughly 

 cleansed kerosene tins could be employed, the cost of producing 

 the fruit, to wdiich must be added the freight to a central factory, 

 should not be more than from $1.75 to $2.15 per hundred pounds. 

 The best quality of pulp is obtained in France by steam heating 



