FRUIT-PRESERVING. 



355 



soak in water containing about 1 oz. of salt to 

 3 qts. of water for about five minutes previous 

 to being placed in the evaporators. 



It is rarely necessary to dry Pears in Britain, 

 there is usually sufficient sale for them in a 

 fresh state, but when it is desired to dry them 

 they require to be steamed for about ten 

 minutes after being peeled, whether they are 

 used whole or cut into quarters. Obviously 

 the best-quality Pears are too valuable to be 

 treated in this way, and only the 

 inferior sorts should be used, and 

 these before they are ripe. 



Stone fruits require careful 

 selection, and as regards nearly 

 the whole of them the work in 

 the apparatus is greatly aided if 

 the fruits can be previously ex- 

 posed for some hours out-of-doors 

 to a bright sun in a dry but not 

 dusty position. This is an advan- 

 tage which the evaporators in 

 America and in France often pos- 

 sess over the British manufac- 

 turer. It diminishes the time and 

 expense of the operation and 

 ensures a better product. To 

 compensate for this, extra care 

 must be devoted to the selection 

 of the varieties, to gathering the 

 fruit at the right stage, and to 

 the regulation of the heat in 

 the early part of the process. 

 Plums should be ripe without 

 being dead-ripe, as if too far 

 advanced they are either liable 

 to split or there is a deficiency of substance 

 in the result. Thin-skinned and delicate 

 Plums are useless for this purpose. Apricots 

 as produced in Britain would never pay for 

 drying; if not used in a fresh state they are 

 preferably preserved in the form of jam. 

 Cherries also are more frequently bottled, and 

 drying is scarcely applicable unless the crop 

 is very heavy. Strawberries, Raspberries, and 

 Gooseberries do not pay for drying here, and 

 the real benefit of the method can only be 

 fully secured in the case of Apples and Plums, 

 both of which, however, are very important 

 crops. 



The fuel to be employed will depend upon 

 the machine used. In some of the smaller 

 machines it will be necessary to use coal alone, 

 but in most of the others a mixture of small 

 coal and coke gives the best results. Accord- 

 ing to the different sizes the upright or Waas 



patent evaporators will consume per 12 hours 

 from 18 lbs. to 1 cwt., with a drying-tray surface 

 of from 100 to 233 square feet, the last-named 

 being equal to the production of 4 cwts. of 

 dried stone-fruits or 400 lbs. of dried Apples 

 as rings in the day. The Dr. Ryder's patents 

 consume about the same proportion of fuel, 

 namely, 1 cwt. to 4 cwts. of fresh Apples, but 

 these can be had with a larger drying area, 

 namely, 800 square feet (120 trays), in which 



1128.—" Gnom" Eureka combined Parer, Corer, and Slicer. 



over a ton of Apple-rings can be dried in 12 

 hours. 



In filling the trays the prepared fruits should 

 be arranged as evenly as possible, so that all 

 may be exposed equally to the heated air. 

 Apples should be placed near to the fire at 

 starting, and gradually shifted upwards, whereas 

 Plums and all other stone-fruits are better started 

 at the top of the Waas machines, or at the end 

 of the Ryder apparatus, away from the source 

 of heat, and gradually brought nearer or lower 

 as the work proceeds. In the upright evapo- 

 rators the removal of trays, and the insertion 

 of fresh ones at any part of the pile, is easily 

 effected hy means of a lever and cross-bars back 

 and front, which catch the projecting ends of 

 the trays, and as they are raised, those beneath 

 them can be taken out and others put in their 

 places. A good deal of judgment is needed in 

 thus regulating the position of the trays, but it 



