18 



passed through the channels of cominerce mentioned above or go to 

 waste on the farms wh(M-(^ grown. 



DISPOSITION OF THIS FRUIT. 



First of all, a largo part is consumod whore grown or in local markets. 

 Largo quantities ar(> consumod in the manufacture of evaporated fruit 

 and of cider, both for drinking purposes and for conversion into 

 vinegar. In certain districts largo (piantities of low-grade fruit are 

 used for canning and making marmalades, butters, jollies, etc. A 

 great quantity of this unmerchantalde fruit, especially in the South, 

 goes into the preparation of sun-dried fruit. In some years 200 tons 

 of this sun-dried fruit are shipped from the little station of Chris- 

 tiansburg, Va., S miles from the experiment station at lilackslnirg. 



Perhaps the data" in regard to merchantable fruit produced have 

 been collected with as great accuracy in Virginia as in any other State. 

 These data show that our crop of 1897 reached about 281,SiS9 barrels. 

 These figures are not quite high enough for that year, as the total 

 merchantable crop was about 300,000 barrels. Supposing this to have 

 been 60 per cent of the total crop, about 1,400,000 bushels of apples 

 were produced in Virginia that year. Of this quantity about 000,000 

 ■bushels were localh'^ consumed or went to waste. Formerlv the esti- 

 mates were much larger, being based on the Eleventh Census,'' but we 

 now know that the census tigures of 1890, so far as they relate to apple 

 production in Virginia, are inadequate. 



Excepting the sun-dried, evaporated, and canned fruit, the apple 

 products just enumerated are generally adulterated in tho United 

 States, either bv the use of other than vogotal)le substances or bv the 

 mixture of diflerent fruit and vegetable substances, and the use of 

 various preservatives and substances which, if not preservative, serve 

 to mask defects in quality and cheapen methods of manufacture. This 

 adulteration has l)ecome so notorious as to groatlv injure a logitimato 

 trade which should be a most proper and natural outlet for this large 

 portion of our apple crop Avhich falls below merchantable grade. 



Tho important practical l)oaring of these secondaiT industries upon 

 fruit growing in our country has led the w^'iter for a number of 3'ears 

 past to devote some attention to their study, with a view to determin- 

 ing the principles Avhich lie at the basis of the practical maiuifacture 

 of those products on the farms or in small cooperative factories placed 

 in tho midst of tho districts which furnish tho raw material. 



To this work the authorities of tho Virginia Agricultural Ex})orimont 

 Station have given all the support possil)le with the funds available, 

 and the work has progressed sufficiently to enable us to give practical 

 instruction of a reliable character to our students, especially along the 

 lines of canning and making l)utters and marmalades. But on some 



"Bulletin 101, Va. Expt. Sta. & Bulletin -18, Va. Expt. Sta. 



