PEAR GROWING IN CALIFORNIA. 



395 



DRYING CULLS. 



In connection witli tlic drying of culls it is unfortunate that too 

 frequently the work is done with little care, and the extremely poor 

 grade fruit, often unfit for consumption, is dried under conditions 

 that are not sanitary and a very poor product is the result. In making 

 a trip in 1915 through some of the counties mentioned, the writer was 

 impressed with the fine grade of certain fruit and it must be admitted 

 very much disgusted with the poor grade of other fruit which, in 

 tlie first place, was half rotten and not fit to dry, and which, in the 

 second place, was being dried by Orientals in the midst of dust, flies 

 and filth of all kinds which had a tendencv to fake awav all of one's 



Fig. 181. Culling pears from the drying trays. 



appetite for dried pears. The dried pear, when properly prepared, 

 is a fine product, and the kind that Lake County produces, when 

 rightly cooked, compares favorablj^ with any other kind of dried fruit, 

 and were it not for the poorer class of fruit that is being treated in the 

 manner described, the product, as a whole, would become much more 

 popular. 



The market for dried pears could undoubtedly be increased greatly 

 b}^ the elimination of the poorer grades, or by a system of standard- 

 ization whereby the product could be better graded, making it possi- 

 ble for the consumer to buy good pears even though at a much higher 

 price, instead of the exceedingly poor trash that we are in the habit 

 of seeing in our grocery stores, and which is anything but conducive 

 to the sale of the product. Europe has given us our market in the 

 past and Europeans in America have consumed most of our dried 

 pears. In order to educate the American people to eat this delicious 

 fruit, it will be necessary to supply them with an article that is 

 attractive and that they may know has been handled in a careful, 

 sanitary manner. 



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