86 BUSH-FRUITS 



zontal evaporators, towers, steam tray -evaporators, and air-blast 

 evaporators. The kiln is nothing more than a slatted floor, under- 

 neath which hot air or smoke pipes or steam pipes are conducted. 

 The slats are hard-wood, sawed about seven-eighths inch wide on 

 top and a half -inch wide on the bottom, and they are laid so that 

 a crack one -fourth inch wide is left on the floor. As the crack is 

 wider below, it does not clog and fill up. The kiln is used for 

 curing hops, for drying the skins and cores of apples, and occa- 

 sionally for drying raspberries, and even for the making of * white 

 stock,' that is, the commercial grade of sliced evaporated apples. 

 The smokestack from the furnace usually runs through the room, 

 and beneath the floor, but not shown in the picture, is one circuit 

 of a stovepipe carrying hot air. In some floors the slats are close 

 enough together to allow raspberries to be spread upon it; but 

 floors which are built for hops or apples are generally covered with 

 muslin when raspberries are to be dried. Kilns are generally less 

 efficient in the production of a first quality of dried fruit than the 

 other styles of evaporators, because the fruit is not so completely 

 under the control of the operator. The fruit must be shoveled 

 over from time to time to insure a uniform product. This hand- 

 ling is itself a menace to good fruit, and when there is any quan- 

 tity of fruit on the floor it cannot all be dried equally. That 

 which is dried enough is generally obliged to wait until the least 

 dried portion is perfected. Yet there are instances in which the 

 operator exercises sufficient care to turn out a product which is 

 indistinguishable from the tower-dried fruit. The particular 

 merit of the kiln evaporator is its cheapness. 



"2. The Horizontal Drier. The horizontal evaporators, in which 

 the pans or trays of fruit are moved horizontally or obliquely 

 across the heating surface, are little used in western New York, 

 and are therefore not discussed in this paper. 



"3. The Tower Drier. The tower or stack evaporators, in 

 various forms, far outnumber other appliances in this state. The 

 stack is a chimney-like structure, of wood or brick, resting in the 

 basement of the building and extending up through the building 

 and projecting above the roof. A coal or wood furnace prefer- 

 ably the former is placed in its base, and air which is drawn in 



