452 CALIFORNIA FRUITS : HOW TO GROW THEM 



ventable in such open air drying, and it protected the fruit from insect 

 attack during the drying process. By the use of sulphur and by no 

 other agency has it been possible to lift the production of cured fruits 

 of certain kinds from a low-value haphazard by-product to a primary 

 product for which Californians have planted orchards, constructed 

 packing houses and made a name in the world's markets. 



The action of sulphuring is not alone to protect the fruit, it facili- 

 tates evaporation so that about one-half less time is required therefor. 

 Not the least important bearing of this fact is the feasibility of cur- 

 ing fruits in larger pieces. The grand half-peaches, half-apricots, half- 

 pears of the California cured fruits are the direct result of the sulphur 

 process. Without it the fruit must be cut into small sections or ribbons, 

 which in cooking break down into an uninviting mass, while, with the 

 sulphuring, it is ordinary practice to produce the splendid halves with 

 their natural color so preserved that they lie in cut glass dishes in 

 suggestive semblance to the finest product of the canners, and are 

 secured at a fraction of the cost. 



There are various contrivances for the application of sulphur fumes 

 to the freshly-cut fruit. Some are small for hand carriage of trays ; 

 some are large and the trays are wheeled into them upon trucks. The 

 most common is a bottomless cabinet about five or six feet high, of a 

 width equal to the length of the tray and a depth a little more than the 

 width of the tray. The cabinet has a door the whole width of one side, 

 and on the sides within cleats are nailed so that the trays of fruit slip 

 in like drawers into a bureau. Some push in the trays so that the bottom 

 one leaves a little space at the back, the next a little space at the front, 

 and so on, that the fumes may be forced by the draft to pass between 

 the trays back and forward. The essentials seem to be open holes or 

 dampers in the bottom and top of the cabinet so that the fumes from the 

 sulphur burning at the bottom may be thoroughly distributed through 

 the interior, and then all openings are tightly closed. To secure a tight 

 chamber the door has its edge felted and the cabinet is made of matched 

 lumber. The sulphur is usually put on a shovel or iron pot, and it is 

 ignited by a hot coal, or a hot iron, or it is thrown on paper of which 

 the edges are set on fire, or a little alcohol is put on the sulphur and 

 lighted, etc. The sulphur is usually burned in a pit in the ground under 

 the cabinet. The application of sulphur must be watchfully and care- 

 fully made, and the exposure of the fruit should only be long enough 

 to accomplish the end desired. The exposure required differs from 

 different fruits, and with the same fruits in different conditions, and 

 must be learned by experience. 



Grading and Cleaning. After the fruit is sufficiently dried (and 

 it is impossible to describe how this point may be recognized except by 

 the experienced touch), it is gathered from the trays into large boxes 

 and taken to the fruit house. Some growers put it into a revolving 

 drum of punctured sheet iron, which rubs the pieces together and 

 separates it from dust, etc., which falls out through the apertures as the 

 drum revolves. Others empty the fruit upon a large wire-cloth table 

 and pick it over, grading it according to size and color, and at the same 

 time the dust and small particles of foreign matter fall through the wire 



