746 Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [10 Dec, 1917. 



markets, a slightly darker, somewhat golden stock ' made from apples 

 of high sugar content, reasonably free of skin and cores, and with 

 60 to 70 per cent, of the slices in perfect rings. " Prime " is 

 a designation for fruit which, while fairly white, has_ more 

 broken pieces, peel, or seed cells than are permissible in the 

 " choice " grade, or which is reasonably free of these but is dark in 

 colour. A fifth grade, called " middling " or by various other names, 

 receives all fruit which has been so badly trimmed and cored that it 

 cannot be admitted to " prime," which contains too large a proportion 

 of broken rings and chips, or which has, been badly bleached and is 

 consequently very dark in colour. 



The best evaporators make several grades of stock from the same 

 lot of apples, by grading the fruit prior to peeling and slicing, and 

 drying large and small fruits separately. When a power slicer is used, 

 the separation into grades is carried further by dividing the chute from 

 the slicer by partitions, so that the large slices from the centre of the 

 apple pass into one receptacle while the smaller slices from the ends pass 

 into another and are separately dried. "When packing begins, the fruit 

 is again sorted over, the largest perfect slices being put together as extra 

 fancy, those also perfect but made from smaller fruits going into 

 fancy, while the smallest slices are put together into prime, and only the 

 broken bits of ring slices with adhering seed cells or skin, and pieces 

 with other imperfections, along with badly bleached fruit, remain to fall 

 into the lowest grade. Such care is well repaid by the higher prices 

 which will be received for the perfect fruit of the upper grades. 



In packing the fruit, wooden boxes containing 25 to 50 pounds are 

 used for all grades above prime, while prime and middling are more 

 frequently sacked in bags containing 50 to 100 pounds. A fifty-pound 

 box is usually 22 x 11 x 10^ inches, while the twenty-five-pound box is 

 18 X 9 X 9 inches, inside dimensions. These boxes are made with a loose 

 side which becomes the bottom, not the top, of the box when it is filled. 

 Packing is begun by " facing " the future top of the box with a layer 

 of perfect slices of good size, which are laid in overlapping fashion, like 

 the shingles on a roof, over the entire surface, after lining the box with 

 paraffined paper which usually has a fancy lace edge. After the 

 " facers " are in place, a second box of the same size but with both bottom 

 and top removed is placed over the first one, and fruit is packed in by 

 hand until the desired weight is reached, when the box is transferred to 

 the platform of a hand press, a board slightly smaller than the inside 

 dimensions of the box is placed on top, and pressure is applied until 

 the fruit is forced doAvn sufficiently to permit the bottom to be nailed 

 on. The package should bo finished by stenciling thereon the maker's 

 name and address, with the weight, grade, and the variety of fruit from 

 which the product was made. A guarantee covering these facts may 

 advantageously be added. 



Varieties Best for Evaporation. 



Since the prices of evaporated apples in the markets depend upon 

 the colour of the product as well as upon the care employed in its manu- 

 facture, those varieties which make the whitest product are most desired 

 by evaporators. In the East, Baldwin holds first place in this respect. 

 Spitzenburg and Ben Davis make as white stock as Baldwin, and will 

 undoubtedly take rank among J^Torthwestern evaporators corresponding 



