THE EVAPORATED FRUIT INDUSTRY IN NEW YORK 



STATE 



K. \V. CATCH POLK, Xoirni ROSE, WAYNE COUNTY, N. '\ . 



The evaporated fruit industry of the 

 present day is the result of a gradual and 

 normal growth, influenced by horticul- 

 tural and economic conditions both in this 

 country and in foreign countries. Ac- 

 cording to the Tenth Census of the 

 United States, the total production of 

 evaporated apples in 1909 was 44,568,- 

 244 pounds with a valuation of $3,098,- 

 095 this representing a four-fold in- 

 crease in ten years. About 75 per cent of this product is made 

 in New York State, four or five counties producing half this 

 amount while the bulk of the industry is centered in Wayne 

 County which had 2,200 evaporators in 1894. 



EVOLUTION OF THE INDUSTRY 



Probably a few middle-aged men of today can recall the 

 quarters of apples, with skin and core removed, that used to be 

 strung up to dry over the kitchen stove. Then as fruit became 

 more plentiful and both demand and price increased, this industry 

 was transferred to the open; the quartered apples, properly pre- 

 pared by paring, trimming, and coring, were spread to dry on 

 boards about twelve inches wide and twelve feet long, which could 

 be tiered or stacked up before a rain. 



The next step in advance was the adoption of several forms 

 of portable dryers. Then, as the large commercial plantings of 

 apples came into bearing and prices of barreled apples ruled low 

 with little demand for bulk goods, the tower and box commercial 

 types of evaporator came into use. With large increase in avail- 

 able raw material, increased demand from Germany, and the 

 strong German prejudice against the products made on metal 

 racks wire-coated with zinc, the type of construction rapidly 



[937] 



