PROCEEDINGS OF NINETEENTH FRUIT GROWERS' CONVENTION. 59 



factory. But they were not, and one often hears the exclamation, " I 

 wish there was some better method of curing prunes." 



French prune-growers learned long ago that perforating the skins 

 facilitated drying, but the crude methods employed were too slow and 

 laborious. Experiments in California along the same line led to the 

 building of perforating machines. The first pricking machines were 

 crude and slow, still the results obtained were good; " bloaters " were 

 eliminated, uniformity in drying obtained, the fruit dried heavier and 

 did not sugar so badly, and there was less expense for labor. Improve- 

 ments were made and better machinery devised, until now there are 

 several prune perforating machines on the market. When one compares 

 results carefully, he does not wonder that so much interest is shown in 

 the perforating method. Machines are now made that wash, perforate, 

 grade, and spread the fruit out on the trays at one operation, thus effect- 

 ing a great saving in time and labor, and producing a uniformity of 

 results not to be obtained in any other way. It is claimed that lye- 

 dipping cleanses the fruit as well as cuts the skin; but so few driers 

 rinse the fruit after dipping that it is a question regarding the cleanliness 

 of it. The strong, filth-laden vapor coming from the dipper is both 

 disagreeable and injurious to the operator, while the cost of lye and fuel 

 is a constant drain on the prospective profits. Some claim that lye 

 should be used, because it removes the bloom from the fruit; but this 

 cuts only a small figure in the process, owing to the fact that most of our 

 prunes are redipped or processed in the East, and the bloom is an evi- 

 dence that the prunes are fresh and not old stock from the year before. 



Economy will have a loud voice in deciding between the two methods. 

 At present, the perforators have the best of the argument along that 

 line, as well as in the points of cleanliness and healthfulness. It will, 

 no doubt, pay prune-growers to investigate the claims of the various 

 perforating machines. 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



Mr. Fowler, Chairman of Committee, presented a report, as follows: 



To the State Fruit Growers'' Convention: 



We, the committee to whom was referred the annual address of Hon. Ellwood Cooper, 

 President of the Fruit Growers' Convention, respectfully report to the convention that 

 we recommend the careful perusal of this address by the fruit-growers of the State. 

 The many suggestions, if properly carried out, will have a tendency to improve existing 

 conditions in the growing and. marketing of our various fruit products. 



We agree with the suggestion of the President, that a plan be inaugurated that will 

 combine all the fruit products of the State, and bring them under one general system of 

 shipping and marketing. Such system should embrace his idea of ten or more agents 

 traveling throughout the Eastern towns and villages, to open up and establish new 

 markets for our fruits, both dried and fresh. 



Second— We recommend that a committee of nine be appointed by the convention to 

 organize an incorporation whose business shall be the opening up and establishing of 

 such markets, and providing for the proper advertising of our fruit products. 



Third — We recommend that the convention appoint a committee of nine members, to 

 consider the whole subject of State inspection, as suggested by the President. 



Fourth — We favor asking the Legislature for an appropriation of $5,000 per year, to 

 be used in the further search for predaceous insects; also, for an appropriation of $5,000 

 per year for the use of the State Board of Horticulture; and that a committee of rive 

 members be appointed by the convention to consider the subject of asking for an appro- 

 priation from the State to establish a Bureau of Statistics. 



(Signed:) D. T. FOWLER, 



T. W. MADELEV, 

 H. P. STABLER, 



Committee. 



