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PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD DAY. 



Thursday, November 22, 1894. 



The convention was called to order at 9 o'clock. Vice-President Buck 

 in the chair. 



James E. Gordon, of San Jose, read the following paper: 

 DIPPING VS. PRICKING. 



By James E. Gordon, of San Jos6. 



Since the State Board of Horticulture did me the honor to publish my 

 essay on prune culture read before the San Jose Convention in 1892, I 

 have received a great many communications on the subject from the 

 East and elsewhere, and quite a number asking about the hew pricking 

 machine. When this machine was first introduced two years ago, I at 

 once arrived at the conclusion, by some mental reasoning which I cannot 

 explain, that it would not prove a success, and after listening to all the 

 arguments in its favor here and elsewhere, I am still of that opinion. 

 At the opening of this season considerable prominence was given the 

 subject by our fruit journals, and it looked as though the days of dip- 

 ping machines had gone by. These machines, as is well known, are 

 made in San Jose by L. Cunningham, and he informed me that he 

 expected to turn out very few this year, but had actually sold more than 

 any previous season, to practical driers who had seen and rejected the 

 pricking machines. 



Gen. Chipman stated here that lye dipping was a dirty process, but 

 that depends on the operator and the machine. There are dippers that 

 do dirty, sloppy work, but the Cunningham machine in the hands of 

 intelligent workmen is the cleanest process known. It does indeed 

 accumulate and wash off an enormous amount of dirt, but in the prick- 

 ing process all this dirt mixes with the juice which the pricks produce, 

 and adheres to the fruit, and consequently causes it to weigh more, 

 which increased weight is one of the strongest points claimed for the 

 pricking machine. 



It is claimed that "bloats" or "frogs" so common in lye dipping are 

 avoided by this process; but " frogs " are not a result of processing, but of 

 climatic conditions. Around Saratoga and Los Gatos, where we have 

 no fogs, these "frogs" or "bloats" are very rare; whereas, in foggy districts 

 they are very common, whether dipped or pricked. They are caused 

 by fermentation, and being easily distinguished can be picked out, so as 

 not to affect the balance; but pricked prunes are all more or less fer- 

 mented, hence that dull, dark, dirty, heavy look when compared with 

 the light golden meat of lye dipped. This soft, mushy condition makes 

 it necessary to market them quicker than lye-dipped. For the same 

 reason it takes longer to dry them — about two days longer in an ordinary 

 season — which means an additional expense of 20 per cent for trays, and 



