532 



CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



from the space and the dust problem is solved, which means clean 

 fruit and better prices. 



Grading. It is of great advantage in drying to have all the fruit 

 on a tray of approximately the same size, and grading before cutting 

 is advisable. Machines are now made which accomplish this very 

 cheaply and quickly.* 



Cutting-Sheds. Shelter of some kind is always provided for the 

 fruit-cutters. Sometimes it is only a temporary bower made of 

 poles and beams upon which tree branches are spread as a thatch; 

 sometimes open-side sheds with boarded roof, and sometimes a 

 finished fruit-house is built, two stories high, the lower story open- 

 ing with large doors on the north side, and with a large loft above, 

 where the dried fruit can be sweated, packed, and stored for sale. 

 The climate is such that almost any shelter which suits the taste 

 and purse of the producer will answer the purpose. 



Sulphuring. The regulations promulgated under the pure food 

 law enacted by Congress in 1906 established an arbitrary limit to 

 the percentage of sulphur compounds in evaporated fruits, which 

 was shown by producers to be destructive to their industry, and 

 otherwise unwarranted and unreasonable. As a result of their pro- 

 test the enforcement of such regulations was indefinitely postponed, 

 pending the results of scientific investigation which began in 1908. 



From the point of view of the California producer it must be 

 held that before the employment of the sulphur process, California 

 cured fruits were suitable only to the lowest culinary uses. They 

 were of undesirable color, devoid of natural flavor, offensive by con- 

 tent of insect life. They had no value which would induce produc- 

 tion and discernible future. Placing the trays of freshly cut fruit 

 in boxes or small "houses," with the fumes of burning sulphur, 

 made it possible to preserve its natural color and flavor during the 

 evaporation of its surplus moisture in the clear sunshine and dry 

 air of the California summer. It also prevented souring, which 

 with some fruits is otherwise not preventable in such open air dry- 

 ing, and it protected the fruit from insect attack during the drying 

 process. By the use of sulphur and by no other agency has it been 

 possible to lift the production of cured fruits of certain kinds from 

 a low-value haphazard by-product to a primary product for which 

 Californians have planted orchards, constructed packing houses and 

 made a name in the world's markets. 



The action of sulphuring is not alone to protect the fruit, it 

 facilitates evaporation so that about one-half less time is required 

 therefor. Not the least important bearing of this fact is the feas- 

 ibility of curing fruits in larger- pieces. The grand half-peaches, 

 half-apricots, half-pears of the California cured fruits are the direct 



* See under "plums and prunes," page 538. 



