THB PRUNE. 141 



prune planted on this soil the fruit resulting would likely be too small 

 to pay for gathering. 



CARELESS METHODS OF CURING. 



The president of the Oregon state board of horticulture, Mr. H. B. 

 Miller, makes the following public criticism of methods prevailing 

 among some Oregon orchardists : 



The prune growers of Oregon often wonder why their French prunes do not 

 command as good a price as the California product. An examination of the or- 

 dinary methods of curing of the average Oregon prune grower explains much of 

 the cause of this difference in value. 



I have just returned from a careful investigation of a number of prune driers, 

 and found much carelessness and slovenliness. In the first place, they pick 

 everything from the ground that they find there at the first picking. Some are 

 half rotten, some half dried, some sunburnt, and almost all immature or de- 

 fective. These are dried and go into the bins with the general crop. Then, again, 

 a strong man goes over the orchard, shaking the trees as hard as he can, bring- 

 ing off the prunes in every stage of ripeness, many of them altogether too green 

 to make a good product. A dish of these prunes will have about as many differ- 

 ent tastes or flavors as there are prunes, and none of them will be truly first 

 class. 



Many of these driers are operated in the most careless manner, without ther- 

 mometer to indicate the temperature, and, as a result, no two lots are cured 

 equally; and so in the drying, as well as in the methods of gathering, many va- 

 rieties of flavor are developed. After being cured they are often dumped into coal- 

 oil cases, dirty packing boxes, and finally bring up in a dirty barn for storage. 

 The dirt and filth about some of these driers is intensely disgusting.* 



Good fruit, clean and pleasant to the taste and uniform in flavor and quality, 

 cannot be produced by such methods and will not command a good price in the 

 market, and, until better, cleaner and more systematic work is done in the gath- 

 ering, drying and packing of our prunes, we will be far behind the California 

 price. 



In the first place, the sunburnt, immature and partially decayed fruit should 

 not be dried. The trees should not be shaken, but the fruit should ripen on the 

 tree and be allowed to drop, and in this way you will secure viniformity of ripe- 

 ness. A careful uniformity of temperature for drying should be maintained and 

 the fruit removed when it reaches a fixed standard. 



Prune buyers should examine the quality of fruit much more carefully than 

 they do, and by variation in prices reward the careful and conscientious producer 

 for his good work. So far the buyers have offered so much for dried prunes, re- 

 gardless of their real qualities. Associations for elevating the standard of quality 

 will do much good. I realize that many of the fruit-growers are doing good, con- 

 scientious work, and are turning out a first-class product; but I have been sur- 

 prised at the extent of careless methods in gathering, drying and caring for the 

 prune, and I desire to urge upon all the utmost attention to every detail of pro- 

 duction. 



*This grade sells in Kansas at six pounds for twenty-five cents. — Sec. 



