402 VINEGAR, CIDER, AND FRUIT-WINES. 



ending June 30, 1888, were 1,803,161 Ibs., of the value of 

 $812,682. Some idea may be gathered of the enormous increase 

 of the fruit-growing industry from the fact that in 1850 the fruit 

 crop of the United States was valued only at $8,000,000, while 

 in 1886 it was estimated at $137,000,000. 



The process of evaporating fruit is a comparatively recent one, 

 it being not more than fifteen years since the granting of the Aldeu 

 patent. Like all other new inventions some years were required 

 before its merits became thoroughly understood, though at the 

 Paris Exhibition of 1878 the first prize was unanimously awarded 

 to the fruit dried by that process. Since then it has spread from 

 California, where it was first introduced, throughout the entire 

 country, and has created a complete revolution in the fruit industry. 

 A number of other apparatuses have been invented, but they are 

 all based upon the same principle. At first only kernel and stone- 

 fruits were evaporated, but at the present time the list comprises 

 the following articles : apples, pears, peaches, apricots, plums, 

 nectarines, figs, cherries, blackberries, grapes, green corn, peas, 

 potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, tomatoes, pumpkins, rhubarb, 

 asparagus, hops, tobacco, meat, oysters, fish, and eggs. This list 

 is not by any means complete, because what has been said of the 

 canning industry also holds good as regards the evaporating 

 establishments : they every year include within the sphere of their 

 activity new suitable articles. And it is no wonder, because their 

 products bring double the price of those dried in the sun or in the 

 oven. A great advantage of evaporated fruit is that it, even after 

 years, regains its natural form and freshness when placed a few 

 hours in fresh water and then boiled up with an abundant addition 

 of water. No leathery skin nor unnatural taste of sugar is ob- 

 served. To all who desire the natural taste of the fruit there can 

 be no question that evaporated fruit is preferable to that preserved 

 with sugar in cans, which at the present time is its principal com- 

 petitor. And this result is obtained by less expensive means and 

 with greater certainty. The tin cans cost sometimes four times 

 as much as the fruit they contain, and the loss by leakage amounts 

 on an average to 10 per cent., though occasionally to the entire 

 value of the shipment. Complaints have been made by nearly 

 every expedition to the North Pole that a considerable portion of 

 their canned goods had to be thrown overboard, making retrench- 



