120 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



and then dry, and will become quite a different product to 

 properly evaporated fruit. The latter is thus described by an 

 eminent American chemist: — " The diastase or saccharine ferment 

 contained in all fruit, and which is the primary cause of its decay, 

 has been rendered inoperative and all germs of animal or vegetable 

 life have been destroyed by the high heat. It is by this chemical 

 change which I have briefly described, in uniting a part of the 

 water already contained in the fruit with the fruit starch, that 

 these truly evaporated products are rendered more wholesome, 

 digestible, and indestructible, and are thereby made more 

 valuable, not only as articles of food, but because they are not 

 subject to deterioration or loss." 



The apple rings should be placed in the evaporator im- 

 mediately after being cut, unless, as is customary when drying 

 on a large scale, they are first submitted to the fumes of sulphur, 

 a process called bleaching. This preserves the colour without 

 damaging the fruit, but it is not needed if the fruit is placed in 

 the evaporator before it has had time to become discoloured. 

 Apples, contrary to plums, are best when dried at one time and 

 occupy from 2^ to 5 hours, according to the variety. 



The making of cider by small growers has very largely 

 declined, although attempts are being made to revive it, but 

 apple juice is used in jelly-making and also for various syrups, 

 and in seasons when other fruit is scarce a very palatable jam 

 can be made by a mixture of apples and blackberries. 



Pears. 



These require quite different treatment from apples, inasmuch 

 as they would, if placed in the low moist temperature suited to 

 apples, lose their flavour entirely. Therefore they require a 

 much drier building, and if possible one where the temperature 

 can be artificially raised by hot-water pipes or other means. 

 Pears must not be laid so thickly on the shelves as apples. 

 With a suitable store and a good selection of varieties, many 

 useful dessert pears may be kept until February and March. 

 Stewing pears may also be kept until May and June. Pears 

 may also be easily preserved in syrup as in France and Italy. 

 For this they are selected belore being too ripe, and are pared 

 and quartered or halved according to size ; boil the syrup and 



