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as fully as they might have been. First, the gathering of the prune: the 

 prunes cannot be picked from the tree, for the reason that you cannot find 

 anybody that will pick it at the proper stage of ripeness; let the fruit that 

 has fallen to the ground be raked away, and all the clods be raked away 

 from the tree, then you have a comparatively smooth surface upon which 

 to shake the prunes from the tree; shake the tree gently, not very hard, 

 and all that falls to the ground without any stem attached are ripe enough 

 to dry; any that come with the stem are not ripe enough, or else the tree 

 has not had water enough. Mr. Wilcox has described how it is done in the 

 Santa Clara Valley; there they are gathered into those wagons with sloping 

 sides at a cost of 40 cents to four bits a ton at the outside; by shaking as 

 I have described it will cost from $1 50 to $2 a ton, but to pick by hand, 

 as some of the growers do, could not be done for less than $3, and prob- 

 ably would cost from there up to $10, and could not be done properly, for 

 much of it would not be ripe enough — that is, the starch in the fruit would 

 not be changed into sugar as it will be when properly ripened, and then 

 some of it is too much dried, and when it is dried too much the skin 

 becomes tough, and in the process of heating much of that starch and 

 sugar will be changed to alcohol and gases, and the skin will burst, and 

 when dried the pulp will adhere to the pit. The prunes when hauled in 

 wagons to the place where they are dipped are generally put into a hopper 

 that leads to the grader. There are generally four grades, and attached to 

 this grader is a fan, all run by steam, that blows out the leaves, small 

 sticks, etc., so that the fruit is perfectly clean and generally graded before 

 it is dipped. As to bleaching, I do not believe it does half as much hurt 

 as whisky. Now apricots should have at least thirty to forty-five minutes, 

 and peaches forty-five to sixty; this is a minimum; apples from ten to 

 twenty minutes, and by the way, apples should be spread very evenly upon 

 the trays — wire trays or slat trays — if you expect to bleach them in ten 

 minutes, and pears will dry pretty near white without it. Such light col- 

 ored prunes as Mr. Hatch speaks of are not generally wanted; four or five 

 years ago our light prunes were not wanted — those grown on the young 

 trees, but California since then has been given a place, and now the Cali- 

 fornia prune is wanted. Up to four or five years ago as many as possi- 

 ble were wanted, to be sold as French prunes, and unscrupulous dealers 

 would use them in that way; now they will take them preferably a little 

 light, but not bleached; that is what I find as a merchant in disposing of 

 them; I have tried for two or three weeks to sell two or three tons of very 

 light colored bleached prunes, and I have not been able to dispose of them 

 yet; there is now a demand for very dark colored prunes; we have sold 

 this year several carloads to one party, and I can tell the growers if they 

 will come to me to know how to cure them, I can find a place for at least 

 one thousand tons next year. You do not want to have the lye too strong, so 

 as to cut the skin all to pieces; you want to have generally a good smooth 

 surface, and then it will be more glossy than if it is cut very much with 

 lye. The two parties in San Jose who have sold their prunes for such very 

 high prices have been referred to. One gentleman made a mistake in say- 

 ing that the small prunes made according to his process sold for as much 

 as large ones; that is not so, and you will find that neither Dr. Hendy nor 

 S. F. Leib sold any that run under eighty to the pound. Mr. Leib got for 

 his prunes this year from 9 to 17 cents, delivered in New York. They are 

 put up in tins, and it has cost him over $10,000 in the last three years to 

 learn how to put up his prunes. 

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