34 



out the year. At the present time they sell at from one to 

 seven cents each, but they are usually about four cents apiece. 

 Before the tinning industry developed the prices were very low. 



" Thus in 1850 (Logan's Journal, III, p. 79) Mr. Thompson 

 states that they were sold for 10 for a cent. 



Tinning. 



" The pines are here always peeled by hand, though machines 

 for this purpose have been invented, as it is found more econom- 

 ical to use hand labour here where it is cheap. The peelers are 

 Chinese. They cut the top and bottom off the pine and peel it 

 with a knife, holding the pine with the left hand, which is 

 covered with an india-rubber glove, to protect it from the acid 

 action of the pine juice. The gloves have constantly to be 

 renewed, as they are soon destroyed by use. The pines are 

 then put into the tins, which are filled up with either water or 

 syrup. The cores are removed previously, if required, by a tin 

 tube, which is pressed through the centre, but most pines are 

 tinned without coring. The syrup is made of 3 catties of 

 sugar to one picul of water. After the pine is put in the tin it 

 is soldered up, and a number of tins are put on a kind of 

 wooden raft and plunged in a tank of water heated by steam. 

 They are boiled in this tank for from ten minutes in the case 

 of the smallest tins, to an hour and a half for large tins. The 

 biggest tins weigh five pounds when full. After removal from 

 boiling water, a puncture is made in the top of the tin with a 

 hammer and punch, and in large tins two punctures. This is 

 to let ont the steam, and after this the holes made are re- 

 soldered and the tins plunged again into boiling water for nine 

 minutes. They are then labelled and packed for export. The 

 object of tinning without sugar is to avoid duty on sugar, and 

 also to enable confectioners to use them for their purposes 

 Pineapple juice is often added in the case of pines not preserved 

 with sugar, but the tins are often filled with plain water. 

 Other forms of exported pines are in slices half an inch thick 

 (sliced pines), and with the eyes removed (eyeless pines). 

 Bruised pines and others are often cut into chunks or cubes. 

 All these are tinned in the same way. Grated or jam pine is 

 another form of export. Crystallized pines are dried in the 

 sun and then crystallized into sugar. 



" The sugar used is usually Java sugar, but Mr. Landau 

 tells me he finds Austrian beet sugar better on account of its 

 colour. The cost is, however, about the same. One manufac- 

 turer states that he preserves all his pines in syrup about 30 

 degrees solution, using from 11 to 20 lbs. of sugar to a cwt. of 

 pines. 



