114 THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 



The most obvious change which takes place in curing peaches is the 

 loss of water but several other important changes occur which even more 



" 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 protest the enforcement of such regulations was indefinitely postponed, pending the 

 results of scientific investigation which began in 1898. 



" 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 content of insect life. They had no value which 

 would induce production 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 drying, 

 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 Califomians 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 feasibility of curing 

 fruits in larger pieces. The grand half-peaches, half-apricots, half-pears of the California cured fruits 

 are the direct result of the sulphur process. Without it the fntit must be cut into small sections or ribbons, 

 which in cooking break down into an uninviting mass, wHle, with the sulphuring, it is ordinary practice 

 to produce the splendid halves with their natural color so preserved that they lie in cut glass dishes in 

 suggestive semblance to the finest product of the canners, and are secured at a fraction of the cost. 



" There are various contrivances for the application of sulphur fumes to the freshly-cut fruit. Some 

 are small for hand carriage of trays; some are large and the trays are wheeled into them upon trucks. The 

 most common is a bottomless cabinet about five or six feet high, of a width equal to the length of the tray 

 and a depth a little more than the width of the tray. The cabinet has a door the whole width of one side, 

 and on the sides within cleats are nailed so that the trays of fruit slip in like drawers into a bureau. Some 

 push in the trays so that the bottom one leaves a little space at the back, the next a Uttle space at the 

 front, and so on, that the fumes may be forced by the draft to pass between the trays back and forward. 

 The essentials seem to be open holes or dampers in the bottom and top of the cabinet so that the fumes 

 from the sulphur burning at the bottom may be thoroughly distributed through the interior, and then all 

 openings are tightly closed. To secure a tight chamber the door has its edge felted and the cabinet is 

 made of matched lumber. The sulphur is usually put on a shovel or iron pot, and it is ignited by a hot 

 coal, or a hot iron, or it is thrown on paper of which the edges are set on fire, or a little alcohol is put on 

 the sulphur and lighted, etc. The sulphur is usually burned in a pit in the ground under the cabinet. 

 The application of sulphur must be watchfully and carefully made, and the exposure of the fruit should 

 only be long enough to accomplish the end desired. The exposure required differs for different fruits, 

 and with the same fruits in different conditions, and must be learned by experience. 



"Grading and Cleaning. — After the fruit is sufficiently dried (and it is impossible to describe how this 

 point may be recognized except by the experienced touch), it is gathered from the trays in to large boxes 

 and taken to the fruit house. Some growers put it into a revolving drum of punctured sheet iron, which 

 rubs the pieces together and separates it from dust, etc., which falls out through the apertures as the drum 

 revolves. Others empty the fruit upon a large wire-cloth table and pick it over, grading it according to 

 size and color, and at the same time the dust and small particles of foreign matter fall through the wire 

 cloth. The fanning mill for cleaning grain may also be used for rapid separation of dirt, leaves, etc., with 

 proper arrangement of metal screens. 



