PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-THIRD FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. 35 



which, thrills his being and has the same probability as his essence of 

 t enduring into Eternity— if there be such a state; to one who feels that 

 his trees may possibly glow with an even greater prescience of that 

 Eternity than he, unconscious though they seem to be. Such an one 

 can not pass a thrifty Spitzenberg without giving it a word of greeting, 

 a tender glance or a sympathetic touch. From every glance, from every 

 touch, such an one will catch a rapture that never stales. It is the ever 

 new, the old, old witchery of apple-growing— aye, more, it is the very 

 apotheosis of orchard culture. 



MR. BERWICK. Mr. Chairman, before the gentleman leaves the 

 platform I should like to express our enjoyment of his very scholarly, 

 poetic, and sympathetic address, and I should like to ask him a question 

 or two. The one is, a point that is new to me in his treatment of the 

 apple— the washing of the apple. I should like to know when that takes 

 place and by what machinery he accomplishes it. 



MR. LOWNSDALE. We have of late years been using a good deal of 

 the arsenate of lead as a spray, which adheres to the apple and is a 

 little difficult to rub off, and there is more or less dirt; sometimes our 

 apples are on the ground and otherwise they get dirty, so we have 

 tried various methods of cleaning them, and we find that it is absolutely 

 necessary to clean apples before they go into a warehouse, because any 

 lime, any spray adhering to the apples, as soon as the apple begins to 

 sweat robs it of luster, and if allowed to remain until the apple throws 

 out its oils, will absolutely dim the luster so that it will not be brought 

 back by any process. So we have specially constructed washers with 

 circular brushes under water, and sizers, so we size as close as we can. 

 The washing is done immediately on receiving the fruit from the 

 orchard. The apples are brought in from the orchard and dumped into 

 a vat of water, which permits of no bruising whatever. The water sup- 

 ports the apple, and it will not bruise in the least. Then centrifugal 

 motion produces a swirl that leads the apples in and on to a series of 

 brushes that revolve ; the apples then come to the outlet of the machine 

 and are taken up by an automatic dipper and thrown into the hopper 

 of a grader and sized ; they are then taken away, assorted as to varieties, 

 and put on lath trays. These trays are run out into the warehouse, 

 stored thirty high, and left until after the first of January. 



MR. BERWICK. Are the sides of the machine simply plain wood ? 



MR. LOWNSDALE. The sides of the machine are stationary brushes; 

 so that the apples revolve against them and against the bottom, and there 

 is also a line of brushes over the top. All the open space would be about 

 a foot in which the apples revolve, and that is covered by another layer 

 of suspended brushes that move as the different sized apples run under 

 them ; but those back of the machine are rigid, stationary brushes. 



