Dec. 1895.] 



EVAPORATION OF FRUIT. 



265 



After this process of drying is complete, the best fruit, or 

 " white fruit," is packed in wooden boxes containing 50 lbs. 

 The lid is tacked down first, the bottom of the box being fastened 

 on when it is full. The box is placed with the lid downwards, 

 and is lined with paper. Over this a sheet of thick white paper 

 is laid, and a layer of selected fruit is put upon it. The box 

 is filled tightly and evenly, considerable pressure being employed 

 to effect this. Good white paper is placed over the last layer, 

 and a lining of soft paper. The bottom is nailed on, and the 

 box is then turned over and branded on the top. 



Inferior fruit, including small apples, which have not been pared 

 or cored, but merely cut into quarters and evaporated, are put into 

 barrels containing about 250 pounds of fruit, without any special 

 attention. They are styled " chips." A great quantity of this is 

 consigned to France, where it is used for making cider, alcohol, 

 and vinegar. This fruit is termed Pommes amirales." For 

 cutting these common and small apples into quarters a machine 

 is used with which a woman can quarter from 19 to 28 bushels 

 per hour. 



In the manufacture of " white fruit," that is the best bleached, 

 whole, half, quarter apples, chips, and rings, there is a refuse 

 of core and paring amounting to 20-25 per cent. This is 

 utilized in America for boiling down for jams or jellies, and the 

 pulp is sold for pig food, being steamed with grain. 



Marmalade is occasionally made from the parings and cores in 

 America. In France, much marmalade is made from these by 

 boiling them in copper vessels with from four to six ounces of 

 sugar per lb., and adding various flavourings. This sells in 

 France at about 5d per lb. The cost of making is 2^d per lb., 

 and it is said that 65 lbs. of parings and cores will make from 

 22 to 27 lbs. of marmalade. This m^anufacture would pay much 

 better in England. Sugar is far cheaper than in France, and a 

 sweeter or more saleable marmalade could be made ; the same 

 applies to jams and jellies made from the parings and cores. 



Concerning the profit to be made from fruit evaporation, it 

 would seem that English producers should be able to compete 

 successfully w^ith those in America, as labour is cheaper. Every- 

 thing depends upon the price of tlie fresh or raw fruit ; if a grower 

 cannot get from Is. 6d. to 28, a bushel, clear of all expenses of 

 carriage and commission, he had better evaporate it. In abundant 

 seasons like those of 1893 and 1895,when many apples were almost 

 unsaleable, evaporation would change a dead loss into a profit. 

 The " sub-acid Gofis " and other common varieties of apples are 

 well suited for evaporation. Many of them were knocked ofi" the 

 trees this year, and sold for next to nothing. 



A bushel of fresh apples gives from 6 to 7 lbs. of best " white " 

 fruit and 5 lbs. of refuse. The price of the former would range 

 between 3|d and 5d. per lb., and the latter from l^d to 2|d 

 per lb., if properly managed. This does not, it is admitted, repre- 

 sent a great profit, but it is far better than the loss entailed by 



