196 



The Canadian Horticulturist. 



exported in large quantities to France, 

 where they are used in the production 

 of the cheaper wines, and sometimes 

 by the distiller. Eighteen thousand 

 barrels, containing four million pounds 

 of sliced apples, were sent to France 

 during 1887, and of this quantity 

 more than half was furnished by 

 the Rochester Evaporators. The 

 dried apples of Western New York 

 can now be bought in almost every 

 town on the Continent of Europe, 

 while an increasing demand for them 

 is springing up even in such remote 

 parts of the world as Australia and 

 Western Africa. Passing from the 

 general to the particular, it may, in 

 the first place, be remarked that the 

 practice at Rochester is to dry not 

 only apples, but peaches, plums and 

 raspberries. 



Green apples are bought in average 

 years, at from fifteen to twent}- cents 

 per bushel of 50 pounds. The actual 

 cost of drying averages from twelve 

 to fifteen cents per bushel. The 

 total cost of the dried product is 

 from six to ten cents per lb., and the 

 average selling price seven to twelve 

 cents per lb. One bushel of green 

 apples produces about 6 lbs. of dried 

 apples. The best apples are barrel- 

 led and exported as fresh fruit; only 

 the second grade fruit is evaporated, 

 while a third grade goes to the cider 

 mills at an average price of 7^ cents 

 per bushel. Nothing is wasted. 

 The cores and parings are dried and 

 sold for jelly, making an average price 

 of $20.00 per ton. A bushel of apples 

 yields 30 lbs. of meat and 20 lbs. of 

 refuse. 



The 30 lbs. of "meat" is reduced 

 to 6 lbs. by evaporation, and the 20 

 lbs. of refuse to 4 lbs. One pound 

 of coal is used in evaporating one 

 pound of fruit. Peaches are dried 

 both in the " pared " and " unpared " 

 state. The cost of a bushel of good 

 peaches in average years is fifty cents. 

 Each bushel yields ^^ lbs. of dried 

 pared, and 8 lbs. of unpared fruit. 

 The actual cost of drying, in both 

 cases, is fifteen cents per bushel. 



The cost of the dried "pared" pro- 

 duct is 15 cents per lb., and its selling 

 value twenty to twenty-two per lb. 

 The cost of "unpared " dried peaches 

 is eight cents per lb., and the selling 

 value from ten to twelve cents per 

 pound. 



Raspberries (black) cost, in average 

 years, six cents per quart. A quart 

 of fruit 3'ields one-third of a pound of 

 dried product. The actual cost ef 

 drymg is two cents per lb., and the 

 total cost of the dried raspberries 

 twenty cents per pound. 



Pliuns are only evaporated when 

 so abundant as to become unsaleable. 

 One bushel of green plums produces 

 8 lbs. of dried fruit, whose average 

 selling price is seven cents per lb. 

 Fruit evaporation is mainl}- an in- 

 dependent business. The 1500 eva- 

 porating establishments already men- 

 tioned as surrounding Rochester are 

 all of this character. The farmer 

 indeed owns a dryer of his own, 

 whenever his orchards are large, but 

 he sells for the most part to the 

 nearest "Evaporator." 



Apple orchards in Western New 

 York are commonly from 100 to 300 

 acres in extent, peach orchards from 

 50 to 150 acres. The Evaporators 

 themselves vary in capacity from 10 

 bushels to 1000 bushels a day. 



The smaller drying apparatus is of 

 the simplest description. It consists 

 of an iron stove, surmounted by an 

 upright wooden casing, the stove being 

 fixed in the basement, and the wood 

 casing on the floor above. The pro- 

 ducts of combustion are carried away 

 by a flue, while the hot air rising 

 from the stove passes upwards through 

 the box-like dryer, which ter- 

 minates in a cowl and vane. The 

 dryer itself is fitted with a number of 

 sliding trays made of wire netting, 

 upon which the fruit is placed, and 

 these are replenished by hand as the 

 drying proceeds. Evaporators of the 

 greatest capacity do not difi"er from the 

 smallest in principle, but the former 

 usually employ steam instead of fire 

 heat. 



