10 



does something more than merely please the eye in food products. The 

 impression produced by food of an attractive apj^earance tends to 

 stimulate the activity of the gastric cells and to promote in many ways 

 the process of digestion. The fresh appearance of evaporated fruits 

 secured by the moderate bleaching which has been described is, in my 

 opinion, of value, and fully justifies the process. It is only when the 

 bleaching is overdone, or when it has been applied in excess to fruits 

 already discolored and dried, that it can be justlj^ condemned. 



The sulphuring process as described by Lattimore in 1886 (Sixth 

 Annual Eeport of the State Board of Health of jN'ew York) was con- 

 ducted as follows : 



The apples are pared, cored, and sliced by machines which are operated wilh great 

 rapidity, either by hand or steam power. The slices, Avhich are about half an inch 

 thick, are placed in shallow trays or drawers which are transferred to a closed box, 

 in the base of which a small quantity of sulphur is kept burning. The arrangement 

 is such that a number of these trays may be introduced at the same time, one above 

 the other, and all exposed to the fumes of burning sulphur as it circulates among 

 them, finally escaping into the chimney. After being submitted to the sulphuring 

 treatment, the slices are transferred to the drying screens, consisting of light rectan- 

 gular wooden frames supporting the wire cloth, woven of iron wire coated with zinc. 



This method, as has already been stated, has been superseded by the 

 more modern one of applying the sulphur fumes before slicing. 



PROCESS OF EVAPORATING FRUITS. 



In the modern processes of manufacture the object has been to secure 

 the fruit in an evaporated state as soon as possible after the commence- 

 ment of operations upon it. It is not the purpose here to describe the 

 drying kilns and the machinery by means of which the apples are pre- 

 pared. Those interested in a study of modern drying kilns can find 

 them fully described by Professor Bailey, in Bulletin 100, of the Cornell 

 Agricultural Experiment Station. In four of the largest factories for 

 the manufacture of evaporated fruits in northwestern New York the 

 process as observed by x^ersonal inspection is conducted as follows: 



The apples are pared and cored by machinery, after which they are 

 placed in wooden trays with perforated bottoms and transferred to a 

 wooden box which serves as a chimney for conducting off the fumes of 

 burning sulphur. The arrangement of this box in some cases is quite 

 ingenious. In one instance the trays are carried through a box, which 

 lies in a horizontal position, by a slowly revolving continuous apron, 

 consuming about twenty minutes in transit. In other instances differ- 

 ent mechanical devices were noticed, but the process was essentially 

 the same in all cases. 



The sulphured apples are next passed to a slicing machine, in which 

 the knives and other x^arts in contact with the fruit are made of bronze. 

 By this machine they are cut into slices a little more than a quarter of an 

 inch thick, each perfect slice having a circular perforation in the center 

 caused by the previous removal of the core. It is this appearance of 



