PRESERVATION OF FRUITS BY DRYING. 185 



for such preparations as have but little value in commerce, 

 and which can never supply, for domestic purposes, the 

 place of those whole fruits, which may be easily preserved 

 from one season to another : it is therefore customary to 

 perform the drying either in stove rooms or ovens. In the 

 first case, the fruits, after being cut, are placed upon hur* 

 dies arranged in rows in a chamber heated to 112° : in 

 the second, the fruits are put into an oven, from which 

 bread has just been drawn ; this is repeated if the fruits 

 be not sufficiently dried the first time. 



Some of the fruits referred to above, may be dried 

 without being cut : of this kind are the tender pears, 

 which cannot be preserved fresh through the winter ; such 

 us the rousselet, the butter pear, the doyenne, the me»- 

 sire-jean, the martinsec, &lc. These are first peeled, and 

 then thrown into boiling water, after which they are put 

 upon hurdles into an oven heated less than is required for 

 bread ; after an interval of three or four days the pears 

 are again exposed to the same degree of heat, having been, 

 however, first flattened between the palms of the hands ; 

 whence they have acquired the name oi pressed pears. 



Fruits prepared in either of the above ways are suscep- 

 tible of fermentation upon being soaked in water, and 

 they thus serve to make a cheap and useful drink. 



In those countries where these fruits abound, the dry- 

 ing of them is commenced about the 1st of August, and 

 those are made use of, which then fall from the trees ; in 

 autumn, when the harvest is gathered in, the sounded 

 and finest fruits are carefully selected to be used fresh, 

 whilst the rest are dried and preserved in a place free 

 from moisture, to be employed in making drinks. I shall 

 in another chapter speak of the processes by which this ie 

 effected. 



The herbage, which serves as food for domestic animals, 

 can be preserved only by drying, and this in all countries 

 is practised at the time of cutting. Fodder, which is im- 

 prudently stacked up whilst still damp, ferments, and th« 

 heat thus produced is sufficient to change the quality, pro- 

 duce mouldiness, and is sometimes even great enough to 

 set the whole on fire. 



There are some fruits, which may, by a few slight pre- 

 cautions, be preserved throughout the year. The first of 

 these precautions is, that of depriving their surface of 

 all moisture before putting them up ; and the second coa- 

 16* 



