FRUIT DRYING AND EVAPORATING. 



883 



the heat is the greatest. They must be turned about several times for 

 twelve to sixteen hours, according to the quality of the Plums, and he 

 reckoned the profit as something considerable. Damsons he said he had 

 bought at 5s. a cwt. They cost very little to dry, and he sold them at 

 4V?- a lb. Now, even supposing them to have lost three-quarters of their 

 weight in drying, he would still have left out of each cwt. of raw fruit 

 28 lb. of dried, and this at 4^cZ. a lb. would produce 10s. Gd., or rather 

 more than double the cost of his raw fruit. 



On October 29 Mr. James Udale, Instructor in Horticulture to the 

 County Council of Worcestershire, exhibited at the Drill Hall a very 

 remarkable collection of dried fruits, vegetables, and herbs. Opinions, of 

 course, always differ on the subjects of flavour and taste. Some people 

 still prefer the mawkish jet-black French Plums in bottles, which taste as 

 if they had been dipped in treacle, to the sub-acid Californian ones to be 

 had in boxes ; and those same people would still more prefer their 

 favourite French fruits, which seem to us so absolutely devoid of flavour, 

 to Mr. Udale's fruit, which was as full of fruit-acid and flavour as the day 

 it was picked off the tree. Opinion on these matters of taste will differ, 

 but for ourselves we know we never buy a French as long as we can get 

 a Californian Plum ; and though we have not tasted them cooked, we feel 

 pretty sure we should prefer Mr. Udale's as much to the Californian fruit 

 as we do that to the French. 



The following are lists of the dried fruits and vegetables shown on 

 that occasion by Mr. Udale, who informed us that the machine with 

 which he worked was the smallest of the Ryder patent type, and the 

 average consumption of coal 88 lb. in every twenty-four hours, but a 

 larger machine would, he thought, prove very much more economical. 



Specimens of Evaporated Fruits, &c.. Exhibited at the 

 Drill Hall, October 29, 1901. 



I. — Plums, Damsoxs, and Cherries. 



Name 



Fresh Weight 



Dry Weight 



Temperature 

 average 



Average time in 

 Drying 



Plums 



lb. 



lb. oz. 





hours 



White Perdrigon . 



98 



27 4 



190-220 



16 



Victoria 



102 



25 12 



190-220 



18 



*Pershore 



80 



15 4 



160-220 



16 



Keel Magnum Bonum . 



36 



8 0 



180-200 



12 



Bittern 



16 



4 0 



140-180 



10 



Czar .... 



9 



3 0 



180-210 



12 



*Greengage (July) 



10 



2 0 



180-210 



lU 



Curlew .... 



8 



1 8 



140-180 



9 



Prince Engelbert . 



10 



2 8 



160-200 



14 



Diamond 



20 



4 0 



160-200 



16 



Cox's Emperor 



11 



2 4 



220 240 



16 



Monarch 



10 



2 8 



200-230 



15 



Damsons 











Common Damson 



135 



35 0 



160-200 



6 



Farleigh Prolific . 



37 



11 4 



160-200 





Morello Cherries . 



6 



1 14 



160-200 



1 



Easily crack their skins. 



P 



