130 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



of the sulphured fruit now in the market, has nevertheless proved 

 sufficiently potent to cause the practice of sulphuring to be legally 

 prohibited in the old world, where therefore our fruits so treated 

 would fall under the ban of the law. An additional consideration is 

 that this process permits of rendering third and fourth class fruit 

 equal in appeal ance to the best, and is therefore easily used for 

 fraudulent purposes. 



There thus seems to me to be abundant cause for desiring, and 

 working for, the abatement of the public delusion on the subject of 

 light-colored dried fruit, which sacrifices the substance to the shadow 

 and is certain in the end, to inure to the detriment of our dried-fruit 

 trtide. 



I hope to find a measurablj^ unobjectionable substitute for the 

 uncertain process as now practiced, in the use of a solution of 

 "bisulphite of soda" (heretofore sold under the name of "California 

 fruit salt") of definite strength, into which the cut fruit can be dipped 

 before drying. In this process, the same agent (sulphurous ga^-; is 

 employed in the liquid form, but so controlled as to the amount used 

 that the chances of overdoing the sulphuring — now so great because 

 of the convenience with which the fruit can be left exposed to the 

 sulphurous gas for an indefinite time — would be reduced to a mini- 

 mum. The compound can be produced very cheaply, and the solu- 

 tion used will be very weak. 



The exact strength and time required to produce the best results 

 with different fruits will form the subject of experiments at the station 

 during the coming fruit season. 



E. W. HiLGARD. 



Director Agricultural Experiment Station, Berkeley, Cal. 



