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the market. The Ministry of Agriculture , however, has stated that good 
grain land in Yugoslavia is worth from $175 to $350 per acre and the hilly 
lands suitable for prunes from 4 90 to «j»175 per acre. Trees for prune 
orchards can be secured from the nursery at less than 6 cents each or at 
no cost at all from the old orchards. Drying in most cases reouires no 
cash outlay and fuel is plentiful. The cost of harvesting is likewise" 
indeterminable. The Yugoslav peasants are fond of working in groups and 
as the prane harvest does not come until most of the other farm work is 
completed, it becomes a sort of festive occasion. Labor is freely ex- 
changed and as even the baskets in which the fruit is collected are home- 
made, there is really no cash outlay. 
Dryin g m ethods 
Drying methods used in Yugoslavia 9 re still very primitive and 
although Government authorities are giving a great deal of thought to 
the matter, changes for the better are accepted very slowly. This is 
largely because the individual plantings are too small to allow of any- 
thing, other, than the inexpensive home-made structures. It is only where 
groups of growers have combined as- in Cacafc, Serbia, that the more ex- 
pensive improved types have been adopted. Urom all indications, improved 
drying methods are being accepted more readily in Serbia than in Bosnia. 
The types of driers most commonly used are known as the Bosanska, 
the G-lavinich and the. Stoykovich. Of these, the Bosanska is the most 
primitive and still the most commonly used. This system has been developed 
by the peasants. The drier is made out of clay or loam and the peasants 
consider it no burden to entirely rebuild or repair the plant every fall. 
Everything needed for its construction is found on the farm and represents 
no cash outlay. In its simplest form it is a small rectangular structure 
built out of loam in each end Of which stands a big loam stove resembling 
a baiter's oven. Immediately above this stove is a cabinet arrangement 
constructed so as to allow home-made trays to slide in or be pulled out. 
In reality it is only a step removed from the drying' of fruit over an 
open fire as still practiced in Roumaniaj- No holes are provided for ven- 
tilation. The Government, realizing that the adoption of more modern 
systems of drying is extremely slow., is urging peasants to at least pro- 
vide some degree of ventilation in this type. An improvement on the 
Bosanska drier was found in a few places "here the oven " r as constructed 
of bri.cK and where some means "'ere provided for conducting the combustion 
:es through the drying chamber to the outer air. 
The trays in the Bosanska drier are loaded with one layer of fresh 
prunes and placed in the drying chamber allowing some sp^ce between each 
ben filled, the cabinet or drying camber is closed and the fire 
started. After ten horrs of 50 degrees centigrade heat, 'the trays are 
■ en out and the fruit allowed to cool. After that- they are given another 
ten hours of about 70 degrees centigrade heat. They ^.re ggain removed to 
cool and then given a third ten. hours of from 80 to 100 degrees cent, ig 
■•fter which they are sorted .and the fruit not yet cured is subjected tc 9 
fourth treatment. 
