CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



which are also available for shipping and canning when prices are 

 right. 



Second. Because our cured fruits are a primary and not a by- 

 product, free investment is made in acres of well-made trays; in 

 tramways and turntables for their movement from the shelter of 

 convenient cutting or dipping and spreading houses; in capacious 

 apartments and mechanical devices for giving the cut fruit its bath 

 in sulphur fumes to preserve natural colors and to prevent fermenta- 

 tion and insect invasion; in the carefully prepared drying floors; 

 in well-fitted packing houses. Such investment has reached many 

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

 as primary products is the justification of such outlay. 



Third. Forty years ago California dried fruit was a make- 

 shift, and a disgracefully poor one. As enterprise and investment 

 proceeded it was soon seen that style and quality alone could re- 

 quite them. It was then believed that handsome cured fruit which 

 should only be relieved 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 fruit must be well grown, and fruit for curing 

 should have the 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 carefully handled to escape bruising, because 

 discolorations are blemishes. It must be cleanly cut for removal 

 of pit or core, because trimness, neatness and shapliness are all 

 essential to beauty. 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 becoming bad. The fruit must be suf- 

 ficiently 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. 



Trays for Drying. The greater part of the fruit, including 

 raisins, is placed upon trays for exposure to the sun. There is great 

 variation in the size of the trays. The common small tray is made 

 of one-half inch sugar-pine lumber two feet wide and three feet 



Cross-section of small drying tray. 



