28 
Practical  Hints  on  Fruit  Farming. 
wliere  sugar  is  dear.  The  cliiel:  of  the.se  is  the  Evaporation  of 
Fruit,  which  is  a most  important  and  ])rofitahle  industry  in 
tlie  United  States.  It  was  described  by  the  late  Mr.  Dan 
Pidgeon  in  an  interesting  paper,  entitled  Fruit  Fraporation  in 
America',  explaining  the  details  of  this  method  of  treating  fruit 
in  the  United  States,  and  showing  the  extent  of  the  industry 
and  its  enormous  increase  in  recent  years.  As  the  term 
implies,  the  evaporation  of  fruit  is  simply  the  driving  out  of 
the  watery  ])arts  by  heat,  thus  reducing  the  bulk  and  weight, 
and  making  the  fruit  portable  on  account  of  its  dryness,  and 
available  for  use  at  any  time.  The  process  is  mainly  applied 
to  apples,  pears,  and  peaches,  as  well  as  to  vegetables  of  many 
kinds.  Attemj)ts  have  been  made  to  introduce  evaporation  into 
this  country  as  a means  of  disposing  of  .surplus  fruits  and 
vegetables,  especially  in  seasons  of  superabundance,  but  so  far 
there  has  been  but  little  action  on  the  part  of  proilucers  and 
fruit  growers  in  this  direction.  Evaj)orating  machines,  .suit- 
able for  large  or  small  producers  and  preservers,  as  used  in 
America,  have  been  exhibited,  and  trials  have  been  made 
of  them  at  some  of  the  Koyal  Agricultural  Society’s  Meetings, 
and  at  several  local  shows.  The  trials  proved  that  the  work 
was  satisfactory,  and  as  a furthei’  proof  one  has  only  to  inspect 
the  apple  and  peach  quarters,  “rings,”  and  “chips”  on  sale  in 
the  grocers’  sho])s  in  this  countyv,  which  are  evaporat(*d  by 
these  machines  and  imported  from  the  United  States 
and  Canada.  As  giving  some  idea  of  the  growth  and  present 
importance  of  the  industry  in  foreign  countries,  it  may  be 
stated  that,  in  11)02,  6.51,170  cwt.  of  fruit  ])reserved  without 
sugar  were  imported  into  this  country,  as  against  396,180  cwt. 
in  1890. 
But  this  method  of  disj)osing  of  fruit  has  not  been  utilised 
to  any  extent  by  British  growers,  or  fruit  preservers,  who, 
as  stated  above,  prefer  to  make  jam,  and  who  will  continue  to 
do  so  while  sugar  is  cheap.  In  seasons  when  the  fruit  crops 
are  abundant,  and  there  is  difficulty  in  selling  fruit  at  re- 
munei’ative  prices,  some  growers  merely  boil  it  without  sugar, 
and  put  it  into  hermetically  sealed  vessels,  in  which  it  will 
keep  for  a long  time.  It  is  called  “ pulp,”  and  can  be  made  into 
jam  by  the  addition  of  sugar  whenever  there  is  a demand  for 
it.  Jam  makers  also  “pulj)”  fruit  when  it  is  very  cheap,  and 
make  it  into  jam  when  it  is  required. 
* Journal  R.A.S.E.,  Vol.  49,  1888,  pp.  487-492. 
