ARRANGEMENTS FOR FRUIT DRYING 53 ^ 



to a narrow strip one-half inch thick by three-quarters of an inch 

 wide on the other side. A cross-section of this tray is shown at B. 

 Since large drying yards have been supplied with tramways and 

 trucks for moving the fruit instead of hand carriage, larger trays, 

 three feet by six or three feet by eight, have been largely employed 

 These tramways lead from the cutting sheds to the sulphur boxes 

 and thence to various parts of the large drying grounds, making it 

 possible to handle large amounts of fruit at a minimum cost. 



Protecting Fruit from Dew. In the interior there is seldom any 

 deposit of dew in the drying season, but occasionally there are early 

 rains before the drying season is over. The fruit is then protected 

 by piling the trays one upon another, in which operation the thick 

 cleats serve a good purpose. In dewy regions the trays are piled at 

 night, or cloth or paper is sometimes stretched over the fruit, thus 

 reducing the discoloration resulting from deposits of moisture upon 

 it. 



Drying Floors. For the most part the trays are laid directly on 

 the ground, but sometimes a staging of posts and rails is built to 

 support them, about twenty inches from the ground. The drying 

 trays are sometimes distributed through the orchard or vineyard, 

 thus drying the fruit with as little carrying as possible. Others 

 clear off a large space outside the plantation and spread the trays 

 where full sunshine can be obtained. Drying spaces should be 

 selected at a distance from traveled roads, to prevent the deposit of 

 dust on the fruit. 



Spaces used for drying are often idle the rest of the year and are 

 weed-covered and unsightly during the rainy season, or are culti- 

 vated for grain-hay which loosens the surface and deepens the dust. 

 When one has water for irrigation it is often practicable to reduce 

 dust and secure an amount of desirable feed or hay by putting the 

 piece down in alfalfa. Mr. P. F. Gannon of Yolo county proceeded 

 in this way. He lowered the tramway tracks to the ground level, 

 and turned up a furrow on the sides to hold the water from flooding 

 the adjacent ground. In the fall, after the fruit-drying was over, 

 he flooded the space, which is a little over half an acre (125 by 225 

 feet). Then it was disked both ways and leveled and harrowed 

 and planted to alfalfa before the rains. The land was moist at the 

 time and the seed came up and the plants grew more or less through 

 the winter. In April he cut the first crop. Just before the space 

 is needed for a drying yard, make another cutting, about June 20, 

 cutting it down close and raking it clean. The yard is then ready 

 for the trays and fruit. When the drying season is over the yard 

 is cleared, and the space then is as clean as a clay floor, from being 

 used so much. In three weeks the top of the ground is green all 

 over, and before the rains come there is another cutting crop, mak- 

 ing three crops a year, a ton at each cutting. So something is made 



