426 Grading and Packing. 
application of sulphur must be watchfully and carefully made, 
and the exposure of the fruit should only be long enough to ac- 
complish the end desired. The exposure required differs with 
different fruits, and with the same fruits in different conditions, 
as 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 recog- 
nized except by the experienced touch) it is gathered from the 
trays into 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. 
Sweating —All fruit, if stored in mass after drying, becomes 
moist. This action should take place before packing. To 
facilitate it, the fruit is put in piles on the floor of the fruit-house 
and turned occasionally with a scoop shovel; or, if allowed to 
sweat in boxes, the fruit is occasionally poured from one box to 
another. The sweating equalizes the moisture throughout the 
mass. Some large producers have sweat-rooms with tight walls, 
which preserve an even temperature. No fruit should be packed 
before “going through the sweat.’ If this is not done, dis- 
coloration and injury will result. 
Dipping before Packing —All fruits except prunes can be 
packed in good condition without dipping, provided the fruit is. 
not overdried. Efforts should be made to take up the fruit 
when it is just sufficiently cured to prevent subsequent fermenta- 
tion. If taken from the trays in the heat of the day and covered 
so that the fruit moth can riot reach it there is little danger of 
worms. The highest grades of fruit are made in this way. If, 
however, the fruit has been overdried or neglected, it can be 
dipped in boiling water to kill eggs‘of vermin, and to make the 
fruit a little more pliable for the press. The dipping should be 
done quickly, and the fruit allowed to drain and ‘then lie in a 
dark room, carefully covered, for twenty-four hours before pack- 
ing. 
, Packing.—To open well, packages of dried fruit should be 
faced.” The many fine arts of paper lining, etc., must be 
Larned by observation. Flatten some fair specimens of the 
fruit to be packed (and reference is especially made to such 
fruits as apricots, peaches, and nectarines) by running them 
