﻿34 BULLETIN 1141, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



oized netting on a wooden frame. Such a box should not be larger 

 (ban will contain 50 or 60 pounds of fruit, as a larger quantity will 

 not be uniformly acted on by the solution. An overhead track with a 

 carriage and pulley for raising and lowering the dipping basket and 

 shifting it from tank to tank is easily arranged and quickly repays 

 the work spent upon it in the saving of time and effort. An ample 

 water supply for the washing tanks is a necessity, as the fruit must be 

 washed free of lye after dipping. 



For plants of large capacity, power-operated dipping machines con- 

 sisting of two compartments, one containing lye, the other water, and 

 supplied with an endless belt upon which the fruit is carried through 

 the process, are obtainable, but the arrangement suggested is quite sat- 

 isfactory. In small plants a large iron kettle heated by a stove often 

 serves as a dipping tank, washing being done in galvanized tubs or 

 similar vessels. The principal objection to such an arrangement 

 arises out of the fact that the wash water is rarely renewed as fre- 

 quently as it should be, often containing as much lye as the dipping 

 solution, but proper attention to this detail will enable the user of such 

 an extemporized outfit to make a satisfactory dried product. The 

 spreading table is of such size that five or six trays can be placed side 

 by side upon it, and it is of convenient height for standing erect while 

 working. It should be so placed that fruit can be supplied directly 

 from the dipping basket upon the trays, yet it should stand as near 

 as possible to the passageway leading to the tunnel entrance. It 

 should be well lighted, as the workers employed at it not only spread 

 the fruit uniformly on the trays, but have the equally important task 

 of sorting it to remove partially decayed and underripe fruit, since to 

 permit such fruits to pass through the drier reduces its capacity and 

 increases the labor of grading the dried fruit. 



In some plants the fraying table serves also as a worktable at 

 which the splitting and stoning of peaches and apricots is done. If 

 large quantities of these fruits are to be handled it will be necessary 

 to provide additional table space for the purpose. In preparing 

 peaches or apricots the tables serve as supports for trays. The women 

 sit beside the tables, take fruits from boxes placed between them, 

 split and remove the stone, and place the halves, stone cavity upper- 

 most, upon the tra}^s. 



A sulphuring chamber is a necessity for treating peaches and 

 apricots, which can not be handled through the power bleacher. The 

 chamber consists of a tight wooden box of such dimensions as just to 

 admit the trays used and of convenient height, supplied with a ven- 

 tilator for carrying fumes through the roof, and equipped with a 

 sulphur stove. The sides of the chamber may be equipped with 

 runways upon which the trays may be pushed in one above another, 

 but a much better arrangement is to have two or more low-wheeled 

 band trucks with flat tops the size of a tray. A truck is placed beside 

 the spreading table and trays are stacked upon it as filled, pieces of 

 1-inch stuff being placed between them to hold them apart. When 

 loaded the truck is transferred to the sulphuring chamber, the sulphur 

 is ignited, and the door tightly closed. When the treatment is com- 

 pleted the truck is rolled to the door of the tunnels, unloaded directly 

 into them, and returned to the spreading table for another load. 

 These trucks serve also for transferring trays of dried fruit from the 



