1178 EVAPORATING FRUIT 



EVERGREENS 



for evaporating. The cured product should be of a 



translucent amber color. 



Berries are seldom sun-dried for the markets. For 



evaporating they are placed on trays in quantities of 



sixteen to thirty quarts, given a temperature of about 

 175 at the start, and are 

 finished in four to five hours, 

 at a temperature of about 100. 

 After being taken from the 

 evaporator, they are piled for 

 sweating in a warm, ventilated 

 room. 



Figs for drying must be 

 gathered when fully ripe. Some 

 growers prefer drying in shade 

 rather than in sun. Evapora- 

 tors are seldom used. The fruit 

 is not allowed to dry hard, and 

 before packing must be well 

 sweated. Usually, for "finish- 

 ing," they are dipped in salt 



1452. Where to dig in 

 removing an evergreen. 



water or syrup. The drying process requires from five 

 to eight days. 



Prunes are allowed to ripen until they fall to the 

 ground. Before being spread on the trays they are 

 dipped or pricked in order to thin or crack the skin, 

 that the moisture may easily escape, and dripping be 

 prevented. Sun-drying requires from one to three 

 weeks, while from twelve to thirty hours are required 

 for evaporation. A thorough sweat prevents the 

 sugaring so common to this fruit. Before packing they 

 are graded in sizes. Dipping as a "finish- 

 ing" process is practised by many pro- 

 ducers. A good prune is soft, smooth and 

 meaty, with loose pit, and of an amber, 

 dark red or golden hue, depending upon 

 the variety. 



Grapes for raisins are sun-dried. They 

 must be picked when fully ripe, the 

 bunches, and the berries on the bunches, 

 being sorted as the picking progresses. 

 The operation of drying must be watched 

 with care. The process requires from eight 

 to fourteen days, during which time the 

 bunches must be turned at least once. A sweat is given 

 before packing. Raisins are graded into half a dozen 

 or more brands for the market. u. P. HEDBICK. 



EVERGREENS. In horticulture, evergreens are 

 plants that retain green foliage the year around; they 

 do not shed all their foliage at any one time; in some 

 cases, the individual leaves may remain attached and 

 green for some years, as in many of the Coniferse, but 

 in all evergreens the old leaves shed after a time when 

 they become so overshadowed or crowded as to be no 

 longer functional. The leaves of pines and spruces 

 may persist three to fifteen years. 



In the popular mind, "evergreen" and "conifer" are 



synonymous; but some conifers as the taxodiums 



and larches are deciduous. Moreover, in the tropics 



very many trees aside from conifers are evergreen, as 



notably the palms. 



Evergreens may be classi- 

 fied as coniferous and broad- 

 leaved, the latter including 

 such plants as rhododendron, 

 kalmia, mahonia, box and 

 many others. The number 

 of plants that are evergreen 

 in the latitude of New York 

 City is very large. Few per- 

 sons recognize the wealth of 

 good winter greenery that 

 may be secured by exercising 



1454. The roots bound up, careful choice of material and 

 and tree being loaded. providing proper conditions 



1453 Digging up an evergreen. 



and protection for its growth. There are many very 

 low evergreen plants that may contribute much to the 

 winter interest of a yard or garden, in the way of 

 edgings, masses, rosettes, and ground cover. The follow- 

 ing lists indicate the materials that are now at the com- 

 mand of the planter. 



Beyond the latitude of 

 Lake Erie, the dependable 

 evergreens are mostly coni- 

 fers. At the Central Experi- 

 mental Farm at Ottawa, 

 those deciduous plants that 

 hold their foliage fairly late 

 in the autumn are mostly too 

 tender for use. A few good 

 plants, however, are, Oregon 

 grape (Mahonia) bearberry 1455. The method of binding 

 (Arctostaphylos Uva-ursi), up t he roots. 



Pachysandra terminalis, shrub 



yellow-root (Xanthorrhiza apiifolia), and Quercus imbri- 

 caria. The Oregon grape is perhaps the most useful 

 evergreen there for ground-covering. The hardier 

 species of Ligustrum are also fairly satisfactory, but 

 most of the species of this genus leave so much dead 

 wood after winter that in very large masses they are 

 liable to be unsightly. Many attractive conifers are 

 reliable at Ottawa, in the genera Abies, Chamsecyparis, 

 Ginkgo, Juniperus, Picea, Pinus, Pseudotsuga, Taxus, 

 Thuja, Tsuga. 



The uses of evergreens are discussed in other places 

 in the Cyclopedia, as under Arboriculture, Herbary, 

 Landscape-Gardening, Lawn-Planting, Per- 

 ennials, Rock-Gardening, Screens,Shrubbery, 

 Topiary Work, Wild-Garden, Windbreaks, 

 Winter-Gardening. For lists of evergreens 

 for California, see pp. 379-381 (Vol. I). 



L. H. B. 



Moving large evergreens. 

 Figs. 1452-1457. 



Large evergreens are moved with a 

 ball of earth because they have no dor- 

 mant period, but carry their foliage and 

 need moisture at all times of the year. It is essential 

 that the ball of earth contains a sufficient amount 

 of small fibrous feeding roots to support the tree 

 and that the tree be kept well watered for two or 

 more seasons until the tree has spread its roots over 

 sufficient area to gather enough rainfall to sustain the 

 normal growth. The extent of fibers in the ball is 

 increased by transplanting and root-pruning. Root- 

 pruning is less essential with trees having an abundance 

 of fibrous roots than with trees haying only a few large 

 coarse roots in the central portion. Some trees, as 

 white pine, will survive with a comparatively small 

 number of roots, their drought-resistant qualities 

 enabling them to persist with a small supply of mois- 

 ture. Other evergreens, as Nordmann's fir, have a long 

 carrot-like taproot, and the tree is likely to die if this 

 is cut and the tree given an 

 inadequate quantity of water. 

 Frequent nursery transplant- 

 ing is, therefore, necessary 

 with this species. 



Trees are dug by starting 

 a trench at a radius from the 

 tree about 3 feet wider than 

 the ball of earth to be taken. 

 The roots are cut off on the 

 outside of the trench and the 

 soil dissected out from be- 

 tween the roots back to the 



size of the ball These 1456 Di ; the hole in 

 roots are bent around against frozen ground to receive the 

 the ball of earth if they are tree. 



