The Storage and Preservation of Fruit. 189 



is prevented. While the preservation of fruit has no nec- 

 essarj^ connection with its production, the fruit grower 

 often finds it convenient to emplo}^ preservative methods 

 for a portion of his products. As competition in fruit 

 growing increases, the market demand for the poorer 

 grades of fruit is sure to diminish. A certain amount of 

 poor fruit is inevitahle, where fruits are grown at all, and 

 at certain times the market cannot use all the good fruit 

 that is offered. To avoid loss, at such times, the grower 

 may be obliged to practice some method of preserving a 

 part of his fruits. A few hints upon the preservation of 

 fruits are therefore given. 



296. The methods of preserving: fruits may be referred 

 to five, viz: 



(a) Expelling a sufiicient portion of water from the fruit 

 {dri/ing or evaporating), so that the bacteria of putrefaction 

 are unable to live upon it. 



(b) Boiling the fruit in sealed vessels {canning), which 

 destroys the spores of bacteria already' in contact with the 

 fruit, and shuts out all others. 



(c) Replacing the juice of the fruit with sugar syrup 

 {c r 1/ stall izat ion), which renders the pulp of the fruit un- 

 congenial to bacteria or their spores. 



(d) Boiling the fruit with sugar until the juices are suffi- 

 ciently concentrated to retard or prevent decay, as in jams, 

 marmalades and fruit butters. 



(e) Treating the expressed juice of the fruit to preserva- 

 tive methods, as in jelly or unfermented grape juice, or per- 

 mitting it to ferment to a greater or less extent, as in cider, 

 wine, vinegar, etc. 



All these methods of preserving fruits have become im- 

 portant industries in certain sections. In this connection 



