CURED FRUITS NOT A BY-PRODUCT 449 



floors; in well-fitted packing houses. Such investment has reached 

 millions of dollars in the aggregate, and the standing of cured fruits 

 as primary products is the justification of such outlay. 



Third. The provision of such equipment is not alone evidence of 

 the standing of the industry ; it constitutes an obligation upon producers 

 to put out a product which shall be true to its opportunity as a primary 

 product, and not merely a makeshift to prevent loss or waste. Thirty 

 years ago California dried fruit was a makeshift, and a disgracefully 

 poor one. As enterprise and investment proceeded it was soon seen that 

 style and quality alone could requite them. Next it was discerned that 

 fruit for curing, to command profitable prices, must be as good as fruit 

 for any other high purpose, as has been suggested. It was then be- 

 lieved that to secure handsome cured fruit which should only be re- 

 lieved of its excess of water and still retain color, flavor and winning 

 beauty, could only be produced in machine-evaporators with artificial 

 heat, and a few years were given to invention, purchase and rejection 

 of all such devices except as occasional refuges when the California 

 climate forgets itself. When the demonstration came that with proper 

 pre-treatment California sunshine and dry air would produce notably 

 fine evaporated fruits without houses and furnaces, cured fruits entered 

 upon their career as primary products, and planting to produce them 

 began. 



Fourth. The obligations upon producers, to make their output 

 worthy of such standing, extended to the whole process of growing 

 and curing. The fruit must be well grown, and fruit for curing should 

 have size and quality which make it first class for other purposes, with 

 the added excellence of being somewhat more mature, because it is not 

 required to stand hauling and shipment. It should, however, be care- 

 fully handled to escape bruising, because discolorations are blemishes. 

 It must be cleanly cut for removal of pit or core, because trimness, neat- 

 ness and shapeliness are all essential to beauty. Before it reaches ex- 

 posure to the protecting fumes of sulphur, it must be often saved from 

 darkening by handling in water, when the nature of the fruit is such 

 as to require it. It must be carefully and evenly spread upon the trays, 

 especially if it be a cut fruit, so that no interference can prevent each 

 piece from reaching its best estate. Sulphuring must be adequate, and 

 yet not excessive, for sulphuring is a protecting and not a resurrecting 

 process ; it is not to improve bad fruit, but to keep good fruit from be- 

 coming bad. The fruit must be sufficiently dried and yet not over-dried, 

 and during the process must be protected from dust by the situation 

 and character of the ground used, even if such protection costs trouble 

 and outlay. 



Although the sun drying of fruit may be a simple process, so many 

 little arts, methods and appliances are continually being introduced to 

 facilitate work or improve the product, that one can learn much by 

 visiting the different fruit regions during the drying season. Such a 

 course is commended to growers who contemplate large drying opera- 

 tions, for suggestions of great economic importance can be secured. 

 The notes of practice which can be given in this connection must be 

 brief and general. 



