17 



SUN DRIED FRUIT A FAILURE. 



Owing to the peculiirity of our climate, a climate in which fruit may be dried as rapidly 



and with as little expense as in any other country, the system of dryinc; fruit in the sun is 



practically a failure. This may strike those who have thought but little on the subject, and 



who have had no e.\pericnce, as a strange proposition ; but, to the practical man, the man 



who has dried fruit in the sun, and kept the same any length of time before disposing 



of it, and to the merchant who has been dealing in sun-dried fruits, and had box after box 



returned to him, it is very plain and easily understood. "In whatever country you dry fruits 



in the sun, exposed to insects, they will deposit more or less eggs upon it. If that country 



be a cold one, like the Atlantic States, for instance, the cold weather generally sets in so 



early that these eggs are not hatched out in the Fall, and the fruit is consumed Ijcfore the 



warm weather of the following Spring ; and the consumers are none the wiser for having 



consumed with the fruit millions of insects' eggs. In this State, however, these eggs hatch 



out in the Fall, and very generally destroy the fruit before it is required for consumption. 



Our dealers generally understand the danger of dealing in sun-dried fruit, and many of 



them have suffered by so doing ; and we, in the line of our business, have also had a little 



experience, which we will relate. While Secretary of the State Agricultural Society, we 



made an exhibition of some of the products of our State, at the International Exposition at 



Paris. At the State Fair of 1866, Briggs Bros., the extensive orchardists of Marysville, 



exhibited a number of boxes of dried fruits of various kinds, put up in a good shape for 



commerce. The fruit itself was in splendid order, and attracted general attention at the 



Fair, and we solicited and obtained the whole to send among other articles to Paris. After 



the Fair, some two months elapsed before it was time to forward the goods to New York, 



and the boxes remained in a safe place undisturbed. When ready to ship, we opened one 



of the boxes, and found that the fruit had turned to a mass of worms. Not one box was 



found but was in the same condition. 



The peculiarity of our climate, therefore, requires that our fruit be dried by artificial 

 means, or that all the sun-dried fruit to keep or to ship be put through some process by 

 which the insect's eggs may be killed. Unless subjected to some process that will effect 

 this, it is neither safe to the individual or good policy to ship it out of the State, or to sell 

 it to those who desire to keep it for Winter use. — Sacramento Record. 



ALDEN FRUIT. 



A careful perusal of the Alden Fruit Preserving Company's circular for 1875, together 

 with a critical examination of the fruits and vegetables preserved by this peculiar process, 

 is fully convincing that this new industry, which is already so well established and prom- 

 ises rapid development, will bring millions o( dollars into our State. We can raise the 

 finer varieties of fruits, such as peaches, plums, prunes, apricots, raisin grapes and figs, in 

 unlimited quantities, and these fruits can be cured by the Alden process and placed upon 

 the market m an imperishable condition, and infinitely superior to the miported articles. 

 The Alden goods have a prestige, and are becoming well known in all the great market 

 centers of the country, and command a high price wherever offered. These facts are 

 worthy the attention of persons who propose engaging in the business of fruit drying. Ex- 

 periments are always costly. Therefore, when the merits and utility of an invention are 

 established and recognized, and the products of that invention become staple, it is well to 

 consider the probable cost attendant upon experimentation with imitations. There may be 

 other processes equally good, but of the many Iruit dryers that have been patented since 

 the introduction of the Alden process, some four years ago, not one has, to our knowledge, 

 been put into successful operation. Our fruit growers had undoubtedly better adopt the 

 plan that stands, af erseveral years' trial, ademonstrated success, rather than to venture upon 

 new things whereof they can have no assurance of merit. One year's crop of fruit may 

 enrich a man, or the loss of it break him ; hence it is better to use a process that has l^een 

 tested, and be sure to save it. If any fruit growers are tempted to experiment, they sjiould 

 require the vendors to establish the works at their own expense, and if the result show that 

 what has been promised is ]ierformed. and that as good an article as that made by the 

 Alden process is produced at no greater cost, then the price agreed upon should be paid. 

 This plan would save trouble, cost and delay to our fruit growers, and if it is not satisfac- 

 tory to the agents of the new fruit dryers, it is but fair to suppose that their contrivances 

 lack substantial merit. 



