EVAPORATION OF FRUITS. 33 



rooms, each heating a group of three tunnels, are arranged side by 

 side. The walls of the furnace rooms may be of any fireproof ma- 

 terial; sheet iron is frequently used, but it has the disadvantage that 

 the loss of heat by lateral radiation from such a wall is quite high. 

 Some operators omit the walls about individual furnaces, but this 

 practice is not to be commended, for the reason that uniform heating 

 of the various tunnels can be secured only when the furnaces are sep- 

 arately inclosed. On the. second floor, the tunnels occupy the posi- 

 tion indicated in Figure 13. By reason of the inclination of the 

 tunnels the floor of the workroom is at the level of the upper end 

 of the tunnels, while that of the passagewa} 7 along the lower end of 

 the group of tunnels is at their lower level, with a flight of steps 

 leading down to it from the workroom. A chute in the floor of this 

 passageway permits the dumping of dry fruit from trays directly 

 into the first-floor storage room. 



The equipment necessary for preparing fruits other than apples 

 is wholly located in the second-floor workroom. The impossibility 

 of transferring loaded trays from floor to floor is obvious, while it 

 is relatively easy to deliver fruit in bulk to the second floor by 

 utilizing a hillside as a location for the building, by building a 

 ramp up which wagons may drive to be unloaded, or by constructing 

 an elevating device. 



The complete equipment for handling prunes, peaches, apricots, 

 and berries includes a sizer or grader, dipping and washing tanks 

 and dipping baskets, a worktable for preparing peaches and apricots, 

 a spreading or traying table, a sulphuring cabinet, and splitting 

 knives and pitting spoons for handling peaches and apricots. Such 

 other equipment as box materials, box-making machine, and press 

 for packing and drying fruit may be used in common for apples and 

 other materials. 



The sizer, or grader, should be placed as closely as possible to the 

 door through which fruit is delivered, as prunes, peaches, and 

 apricots should be graded for size prior to their preparation for 

 drying. The advantages are greater uniformity in the results ob- 

 tained in dipping and in the case of prunes more uniformity in 

 drying than is possible when fruit of all sizes is mixed together on 

 a single tray. The sizing machine may be of any type which has 

 sufficient range of adaptability to handle peaches and apricots as 

 Avell as prunes. Several satisfactory machines for both hand and 

 power operation are on the market, while many operators possess 

 homemade sizers which do satisfactory work. 



The dipping tank in which prunes are checked by dipping into a 

 boiling lye solution preparatory to drying, with the washing tank 

 in which they are washed free of lye, should be placed immediately 

 adjacent to the sizer. As successful checking depends upon maintain- 

 ing the lye solution actually at boiling temperature, the most satis- 

 factory dipping tank is a heavy wooden box lined with galvanized 

 sheet iron with soldered seams and heated by a steam coil supplied by 

 steam from a small boiler. Such a tank should have three compart- 

 ments, the first for containing the lye solution, while the second and 

 third are filled with water for washing the fruit free from lye. Dip- 

 ping baskets or boxes are made by nailing heavy, small-mesh, galva- 



