EVAPORATION OF FRUITS. 



59 



step in packing, therefore, is to face this side. 9 The facers are 

 slices which are perfect rings. These are usually selected from a 

 quantity of fruit which contains a relatively large proportion of 

 them; they are then placed on thin boards which are slightly 

 smaller than the top of the box, inside measure, overlapping one 

 another in rows, lengthwise of the board. Figure 16 shows such a 

 board of facers. The facers are put in place by inserting the board 

 on which they are arranged into the box, which is first lined with 

 paraffin paper, and then with a dexterous movement of the hand 

 flipping the layer of rings against the inner face, or the bottom, 

 which is to become the 

 top of the box. 



After facing, the box 

 is filled by placing over 

 it a bottomless box pro- 

 vided with cleats to hold 

 it in place, setting the 

 whole on the scales, and 

 filling loosely with fruit 

 to the required weight. 

 The box is then trans- 

 ferred to the platform 

 of a box press, and the 

 fruit is forced down 

 until the upper box can 

 be lifted off and the bot- 

 tom nailed on. The car- 

 tons usually are filled by 

 hand. Figures 17 and 18 

 show 50-pound boxes of 

 dried apples as they ap- 

 pear upon being opened. 



Experiments have 

 shown that lining the 

 boxes completely with double layers of paraffin paper, the sheets 

 being so placed that the joints in the first layer are covered by the 

 second, greatly reduces the danger of insect infestation by making- 

 it impossible for moths to gain access to the fruit after it is packed. 

 As the cost of such lining is slight, it should come into more general 

 use than is the case at present. 



Fig. 16. 



board " of facers. 



PACKING PEACHES, APRICOTS, AND PEARS. 



Dried peaches, apricots, and pears are usually packed in wooden 

 boxes holding 25 pounds. They are packed, as a rule, without any 

 special attention to grading- The package is faced, in effect, much 

 the same as described above in packing evaporated apples, though 

 the pieces are placed by hand rather than by a facing board. 



If they have been well dried and contain the proper amount of 

 moisture, the pieces are pliable when they are ready to come from 

 the curing room where the moisture has become uniform throughout 



9 During the war period the practice of facing- packages of evaporated fruit was dis- 

 continued, but it has now been generally resumed, at least for the better grades of fruit. 



