Sulphuring Frutt. 425 
fore cutting is advisable. Machines are now made which ac- 
complish this very cheaply and quickly. 
Cutting-Sheds——Shelter of some kind is always provided 
for the fruit-cutters. Sometimes it is only a temporary bower 
made of poles and beams upon which tree branches are spread 
as a thatch; sometimes open-side sheds with boarded roof, and 
sometimes a finished fruit-house is built, two stories high, the 
lower story opening with large doors on the north side, and 
with a large loft above, where the dried fruit can be sweated, 
packed, and stored for sale. The climate is such that almost 
any shelter which suits the taste and purse of the producer will 
answer the purpose. 
Sulphuring.—Yhere is constant discussion concerning the 
desirability of sulphur fumes in connection with fruit drying. 
The discussion may result in educating buyers so that they will 
purchase unsulphured fruit at a good price, but they are of no 
such mind at present, and the producer can not afford to do 
otherwise than use sulphur on fruits on which the demand is for 
a light color. Sulphur-bleaching of old, discolored, sun-dried 
fruit in a sort of resurrecting process, is very different from the 
exposure of freshly-cut fruit to sulphur fumes before putting out 
in the sunshine. The latter is the practise which is at present 
usually signified by the term sulphuring, although sulphur is 
also used with the machine driers. 
There are various contrivances for the application of sul- 
phur 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 bot- 
tom one leaves a little space at the back, the next a little 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 essen- 
tials seem to be to 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 edges felted and the cabinet is made 
oi 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 
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