14 DEHYDRATION OF FKUITS AND VEGETABLES. 



Senator Smith, of Georgia. Does it require a separate plant for 

 each product? 



Mr. HoRST. Oh, no; one plant does everything; the same plant 

 that dries tomatoes also dries potatoes. 



Senator Ransdell. You mean community plants? 



Mr. HoiiST. You can call them community plants, so long as you 

 have the plant, community, individual or corporation. 



The Chairman. What would be the cost of an economical plant 

 for uses such as you have described ? 



Mr. HoRST. You can put up a substantial plant all the way from 

 $5,000 to $50,000. Of course everything depends upon the kind of 

 a structure you are going to build to dry in, and if you make your 

 drying buildilig brick you are going to have a much lower cost of 

 operation than if you make it of frame, because your brick build- 

 ing will sure your heat that you would otherwise lose in the frame 

 building; and the other things depend upon the price you are 

 paying for your fans and the steam coils. 



Senator Norris. The steam coils are to heat the air? 



Mr. HoRST. Uliey are to heat the air. 



The Chairmax. And then you must have steam power to operate 

 the fans ? 



Mr. HoRST. We must have power to operate the fans. An auto- 

 mobile will do, or a little motor will do it. In our plant we use a 

 boiler for making steam. We run the steam through the steam coil, 

 and then we use electric power for operating the fan. 



S'liator XoERis. It would not take much power to operate the fan? 



Mr. HoRST. It would not. 



Senator Norris. Then you have to \\a\e a place where the air 

 goes in? 



Mr. HoRST. Yes, sir. 



Senator Norris. A place for it to come out, and passing through 

 the building it goes over the fruit. 



Mr. Horst. Yes, sir. 



Senator Norris. That is the whole thing? 



Mr. HoRST. That is the whole idea. 



Senator Ransdell. You have got to heat that air somewhere? 



Mr. HoRST. You heat the air by passing it over the steam coil, and 

 the whole principle is to heat the air so you do not heat it and lose it. 



Senator Norris. But the heating is outside of the building that 

 has got the fruit in it, I suppose, is it not ? 



Mr. HoRST. The heating plant may be either inside or outside the 

 building. 



Senator Norris. And the fan is put right at the entrance, I pre- 

 sume ? 



Mr. Horst. Of course, you can supplement that, if you like, by put- 

 ting further heating coils inside of the building if you want to do 

 that. In other words, the higher the temperature you work at the 

 quicker you dry. For every 24° increase in temperature you double 

 the drying capacity of the air. 



Senator Norris. Tell us how long, in a properly equipped plant, 

 it would take to dry potatoes. 



Mr. Horst. You can dry sliced potatoes all th© way from about 

 two hours to eight hours, according to how thick you lay them and 



