546 



CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



is wide inside, so as to move freely without danger of being bound. Two 

 or three rods of half-inch iron provided with screws and nuts should pass 

 through from side to side of drying chamber about half way from top to 

 bottom, to prevent the walls of the drier from warping or bulging, or else 

 the trays will drop off the tracks. 



Make four sides of the trays of stuff one and a half inches square, notched 

 i.i the corners of trays. Tack on No. 3 mesh galvanized wire cloth. Over 

 this nail strips one inch thick by one and a half inches wide for runners to 

 roll over the wheels. Nail a similar strip across the middle of the tray to 

 prevent the wire cloth from sagging. From twenty-five to fifty extra trays will 

 be found convenient in operating the drier. The wire cloth is two feet wide. 

 Make the tray frames two feet one inch wide. With average prices for labor 

 and material this drieti can be built in a substantial manner for about $500. 



To Operate the Drier. Get started right by taking all day in grad- 

 ually filling the drier, so that by night time the first trays will be within a few 

 hours of being finished. Start a good fire before putting in the fruit, so as 

 to burn out the oily smells of the new ironwork. Use the eight lower tracks 

 for the fresh fruit. Put eight trays in at a time, one tray on each of the eight 

 lower tracks about every forty-five minutes, starting them at the front end 

 over the furnace and pushing along. After ten lots have been so placed the 

 eight lower tracks will be full. Then take out one tray from each track at the 

 back end and put them in on the upper four tracks, two trays on a track, to 

 be gradually pushed along from time to time, as often as fresh trays are put 

 in at the front, until the machine is full and the dryest trays will be at the 

 front end on the upper four tracks. The fresh, wet fruit will in this way have 

 its vapor drawn out through the ventilator close by, without wetting the fruit 

 which is partly dry. 



As the fruit gets dryer it is moved into dryer and warmer air at the back 

 end. But this fresh air right from the heater below is 180 degrees hot and 

 nnsafe for fruit to finish in, so it is started back on the upper tracks' to finish 

 in a milder temperature, with enough vapor in the air to allow tne iruit to 

 finish gradually without danger of scorching, turning out the fruit in a soft and 

 flexible condition, evenly cured and right in color. This process is peculiar to 

 this evaporator and yields the best results in quality of work done. 



If fruit is rushed too fast through the drier it will get back to the front 

 and top too soon and will be too wet to dry readily in the lower temperature. 



If the beginner gets caught this way, it will be better, after waiting a little, 

 to take it out, and, if still too wet, carry it back to the other end and put 

 in on the upper four tracks again to gradually go forward again. After a little 

 experience he will learn how and when to move the fruit. 



As to variations of heat in different parts of the drier and the effects thereof, 

 it may be added that the thermometer hanging in the current of ai'r just as it 

 strikes the fruit may register 190 degrees and do no harm, for the fruit at that 

 end of the drier has enough moisture to save it. The air cools rapidly, and 

 when it reaches the other end of the drier where the fruit on the top tracks 

 is nearly dry, the temperature will be about 40 degrees cooler. This is one 

 of the most valuable points in this evaporator, finishing the fruit in a lower 

 temperature and yet with but little moisture in the air. 



Wood or coal fires will fluctuate in heat, and a careless operator might allow 

 the temperature to get to 200 or 210 degrees, but if it does not last more than 

 a few minutes, and as the fruit is not too near being finished at the exposed 

 end, no harm is done. A thermometer resting on the tray at the back end 

 lying between the fruit will show about 10 degrees lower temperature than when 

 hanging clear in the draft at that point. 



While drying the trays should not touch the ends of the drier, but be pushed 

 back about a foot and a half from the doors to allow room for free circulation 

 of air at the back end of drier and down at the front end. It takes sixteen 

 to twenty-four hours to dry the fruit, according to kind and size. Apples are 

 dried in six to eight hours. 



The furnace may be made to use any fuel. An oil burner is the best, because 

 the heat can be kept steadily at the maximum. 



