454 CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



are usually quite willing to show visitors the methods they employ. 

 Though this is the better way of proceeding, a few general hints will 

 be given of methods with different fruits. 



Apples. There seems little use of drying apples unless a very 

 light-colored, handsome product can be turned out. This can be done 

 by sulphuring as soon as cut, and sun drying in a dry region, or by the 

 use of a machine evaporator in regions of greater atmospheric humidity. 

 Recently the product has largey increased in such large producing 

 regions as the Pajaro Valley, and new labor saving devices are being 

 continually introduced. 



Apricots. Apricots for drying should be fully ripe but not soft 

 enough to be mushy. By the use of sulphur and sun heat, an amber- 

 colored, semi-translucent fruit is obtained. The prevailing method of 

 gathering is to shake down the fruit upon sheets, but the best product 

 is hand picked. Pit the fruit by a clean cut completely around in the 

 suture; do not cut part way around and then tear apart a clean-cut 

 edge is essential. Put on the trays with the skin down, or with the 

 cut up, as it is sometimes described ; sulphur, and then put in the sun. 

 About three days of interior valley sunshine will finish the apricots. 

 Apricots will yield on the average about one pound of dried fruit to 

 five pounds of fresh. 



Mr. Joseph T. Brooks, of San Jose, describes sulphuring of apricots 

 as follows: 



The fruit is cut in half and pitted, then spread upon the trays and put into 

 an airtight sulphur house. These are made just large enough so that the trays 

 may be slid in one over the other so that the sulphur fumes can permeate every 

 part of the house. About one pound of powdered sulphur is poured into a hole 

 in the ground and set fire, and as long as there is any oxygen left in the house, 

 this sulphur will continue to burn and pour forth its volume of dense smoke. 

 This process gives the apricots a very pretty golden appearance. The apricots, 

 if dried without being sulphured, have a dark uninviting appearance, and are 

 inclined to get wormy, although by dipping them in a strong solution of salt 

 and hot water the possibility of infection might be overcome. Dried apricots are 

 treated to a steam bath to make them pliable, and packed in boxes similar to 

 prunes. 



Berries and Cherries. These fruits are only dried in the sun 

 in small quantities for local sale, and ordinary farm-house methods are 

 employed. 



Figs*. The fruit may be carefully picked from the tree so as to 

 secure the whole of the stem, when the fruit is fully ripe, as is known 

 by the seaming or slight shriveling of the skin. In drying the common 

 black fig from large trees, however, the fruit is generally gathered from 

 the ground, which is cleaned and smoothed before the crop ripens. In 

 drying black figs the fruit is placed on trays and in most cases exposed 

 to the sun, but some foothill growers maintain the advantage of drying 

 in the shade. This is also practiced by some growers in the Fresno 

 district, who stack the trays as soon as filled and thus cure by the natural 

 movement of dry air instead of direct sunshine. The figs should not be 

 allowed to dry hard. When sufficiently cured, put in sweat-boxes for 



*A special illustrated account of handling dried figs in California is given in "The 

 Smyrna Fig at Home and Abroad," by George C. Roeding, Fresno, Cal. 



