176 RURAL CALIFORNIA 



However, in fruit-growing California does not need 

 new varieties so much as better ones of types already 

 demonstrated to be supremely serviceable and ac- 

 ceptable. In this direction, the demonstration of 

 rigid test and acute selections as a basis of propa- 

 gation made in California seems destined to be- 

 come a moving horticultural force throughout the 

 world. 



Fifth, the relation of enterprises and methods to 

 fruit preservation. California is the leading state in 

 the Union in the output of canned and dried fruits, 

 and her styles of these products and methods of pro- 

 ducing them are models in other parts of the world 

 which have conditions favoring their use. The pio- 

 neer policy of producing fruits directly for preserva- 

 tion as a primary product and not looking on pre- 

 servative processes as merely means for saving fruits 

 from waste, was new to America though it was a 

 prevailing practice in some parts of Europe. On 

 it rests largely the development of great canning 

 and drying industries. The California drying tray 

 is an original invention of about fifty years ago, 

 which by its cleanliness, ease of handling and econ- 

 omy of space, immediately relieved producers from 

 most of the cost and dirt of the drying floors used 

 from time immemorial throughout the Mediterranean 

 region. The use of sulfur for preserving natural 

 color in sun-dried fruit is an ennobling of the older 

 art of using sulfur as a bleaching agent. 



The California fruit box, so-called, but which was 

 probably first used in shipping Oregon apples to San 



