cots, nectarines, plums, pears, figs and apples are known and 



world. The dry fruit mdustr> in 'California is not only a 



business, but the entire fruit industry of the state is largely 

 benefited by this method of marketing so large a quantity of 

 fruit. Through the medium of fruit drying, the green fruit 

 markets are relieved of enormous quantities of fruit each 

 season. Take, for instance, the year of 1891, when the 

 output of dry apricots in the Santa Clara valley was some 

 300 carloads, or say 6,000,000 pounds of cured fruit. Admit- 

 ting that five and one half pounds of ripe Moorpark apricots 

 make one pound when dried, we find that there were used in 



drying during the season of 1891. Those familiar with the 

 fruit harvest of that year will remember that the crop of 

 apricots was enormous. After supplying the heavy demands 

 of our canners and fresh fruit shippers, a large quantity of 

 this decidedly popular fruit was left upon the trees unpicked, 

 because the price paid by the buyers would not warrant the 



after the markets has been relieved of the enormous quantity 

 of fruit that dryers used, what would have been the result 

 had that 33,000,000 pounds of apricots been placed upon 

 the market in the green state? Hence it is that fruit-drying 

 in California will always be found profitable from a fruit- 

 grower's standpoint, even if the cured product does not sell 

 for any more than enough to pay for the curing ; but if 

 growers and dryers will exercise the proper care and caution, 

 and produce a good article of California dried fruit, it will 

 command a paying price one year with another. 



" Nearly every one who is conversant with the fruit trade 

 in^this state remembers the eventful season of ^1890. The 



dried fruit in California to advance to almost unheard-of 

 prices. Bleached, unpeeled peaches jumped in one week- 

 county^ Chinese bleached peaches, that have always sold at 

 about 314 cents per pound, reached the respectable price of 

 19 cents per pound in carload lots. Eastern buyers fairly 



