August 9, 1888. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
127 
cient to pay for picking, packing, and transport ; in this the county of 
Kent is not singular. Evaporated fruits are the product of a system of 
drying by means of currents of hot air—the practice has been brought 
into active operation in Canada and America within the past few years 
for the purpose of utilising crops there, and has proved to be very profit¬ 
able to carry out. The process is an exceedingly simple one, and is 
readily applicable to all classes of fruits, from the soft Raspberry and 
Strawberry to the hardest kind of winter Apples. In practice the Apples 
are pared, cored, and sliced or quartered by a small hand machine worked 
by a boy or girl; they are then spread on wooden trays or shelves and 
placed in a close oven or chambers to which hot air is supplied from a 
stove or steam coil. Apricots, Peaches, Cherries, and similar fruits are 
dealt with in the same manner ; they are subjected to a current of dry 
hot air in the chamber for about three hours, during which time they 
are deprived of the whole of their moisture, are altered in appearance, 
and become considerably reduced in weight. They can be easily packed, 
and will keep in good order and condition for an indefinite time. When 
required for use they simply have to be steeped in water and cooked in 
the ordinary way, when they will assume their original dimensions and 
also be found to have retained the flavour they possessed upon being 
subjected to the process—that is to say, that if evaporated at the orchards 
' immediately on being plucked they will retain all the natural aroma and 
flavour of fresh plucked fruits, whereas, if they are dealt with after 
being plucked and marketed, involving a delay of several days during 
which they will have lost their flavour, then they will only have the 
flavour they possessed at the time of preparation and no more. It must 
not therefore J?e thought that stale fruit can be evaporated and will 
become fresh in the process, or that unsound fruits will become sound 
by the same means. This points out the advantages derivable from 
treating the fruits on the spot in proximity to the CrChards where grown. 
The county of Kent possesses great advantages for profitably working 
the system of fruit evaporation owing to the large number of oast-houses 
that exist in every direction that could be readily converted and utilised 
as evaporators, and thus profitably employed in seasons where they now 
remain unoccupied. The improvements made to the *oast-houses to 
enable them to be used for fruits would be of material benefit when they 
were required for Hop-drying. The temperature maintained in the 
evaporators for fruit-drying ranges from 180° to 210° Fain - ., and the time 
■occupied in drying is from two and a half to three hours, varying with 
the fruits, some of which contain more water than others. Green Apples 
weigh about 55 lbs. to the bushel, after being pared and cored the net 
residue weighs about 35 lbs., which quantity, after evaporation, weighs 
from 6 to 7 lbs. A bushel of green Apples in America or Canada is worth 
about 7d. to 9d.; the wholesale value of the evaporated fruit there is 
from 6d. to 7d. per pound, say from 3s. to 3s. 6d. ; the cost of labour,fuel, 
&c., is about lOd. the bushel, therefore by evaporating their fruit the 
growers of America and Canada more than treble their value, besides 
obtaining a residue of 20 lbs. of paring and coreings which has a good 
value as a food for stock, in which form it is much appreciated. Pears 
turn out about 7 to 8 lbs. to the bushel, and Plums about 12 to 13 lbs. ; 
all other fruits show comparatively similar advantageous and profitable 
results. In addition to its possession of the oast-houses, the county of 
Kent furnishes peculiar facilities for the successful introduction and 
practice of the system of fruit preservation by evaporation on the 
following grounds It has a large quantity of soft and hard fruits that 
give a long range of season for working. It has a quick communication 
with the metropolis, to which regular supplies of its choice fruit can be 
speedily forwarded as selected from the bulk. The large capacity of the 
oast-houses, in the centre of the fruit-producing district will, by appro¬ 
priating a vast amount of fruit that has hitherto been forced on the 
market, make room for the produce of many more orchards than at pre¬ 
sent exist, and at the same time enable better prices to be obtained for 
what is disposed of. 
CANNING OF FRUITS. 
The canning or tinning of fruits is largely carried on in America, at 
Bermuda, and at Singapore, also to some extent in Australia. Fruits 
preserved in this form are dealt with in two ways ; the first in their own 
juice, when they are intended for cooking purposes ; by the second they 
are prepared in syrups of different strengths, and are then available as 
■dessert fruits. In the New England States and in Maryland vegetables 
are also largely preserved, and form a valuable addition to the larders of 
all American homes. In the State of California dessert fruits are canned 
and shipped in very large quantities to all parts of the world. It will 
not be difficult to obtain Californian fruits of every description at any 
of the leading grocers of Sittingbourne. The cost and charges of tins 
and cases form a large proportion of the cost of canning, and this system, 
except for the fruit in syrup, is being superseded by the more economical 
method of evaporation, as that is found to need but little additional 
■capital from the farmer over the cost of the fruit. 
The boiling of fruits in syrups is carried on very extensively in 
Portugal and in France, and goods made up in that form command very 
high prices and meet with considerable sale in the West End of London, 
where they are in demand at seasons of the year when other fruits are. 
not procurable. A considerable quantity of fruits are bottled by our 
London and some country manufacturers, but, with that peculiar 
■characteristic that applies to the distribution of our food products. 
English bottled fruits are invariably made up in their own juices, and 
suitable only for cooking purposes. Compared to the manufactures of 
other nations, they have a low commercial value, and only enter into 
■consumption where other goods are not obtainable. These are sad facts 
to realise in a country whose people pride themselves upon their com¬ 
mercial experience, enterprise, and energy. 
The crystallising of fruits by boiling them in sugar that they may 
be available as a sweetmeat, or for dessert purposes, is very largely carried 
on in France, whose goods are extensively imported and readily sold in 
every direction with us at comparatively high prices. This particular 
branch of fruit preservation is divided into several branches, each having 
special characteristics, such as crystallising, glacing, candying, &c., &c. 
The basis of all, however, is much of the same character, and does not 
require either extensive plant or other appliances ; skilled labour is the 
principal element necessary to produce these goods and pack them for 
sale. The candying of Lemon and Orange peel is the principal branch of 
this industry that is carried on in this country. 
(To be continued.) 
SARCOCHILUS HARTMANNI. 
Several species of Sarcochilus have been noted various times, 
especially at Kew, where they are well grown and frequently 
attract attention as amongst some of the most distinct and pretty 
Australian Orchids. In the “ Botanical Magazine ” for August an 
excellent illustration of the species named above is given, together 
with the following remarks by Sir Joseph Hooker. Being of free 
growth, flowering readily 7 , and lasting well, this and other species of 
Sarcochilus are not likely to remain long scarce in amateurs’ col¬ 
lections of Orchids. “ This appears to be very near indeed to 
S. Fitzgeraldi, F. Muell. ; but, as Mr. Fitzgerald points out, the 
habit is erect, and the very stout peduncles and racemes at once 
distinguish it. It is a native of mountain woods near Towomba, 
and at Cairns in Queensland, where it was discovered by Mr. E. 
Bamsay, F.L.S. Our plant was received from Mr. J. F. Roberts, 
nurseryman of Kew, near Melbourne, in 1883, and it flowers 
annually in the cool Orchid house in the early spring. 
“ Stems loosely tufted, short, stout, with very long strong aerial 
roots. Leaves three to five, 2 to 5 inches long, hard and fleshy, 
linear-oblong, tip obtuse or equally or unequally obtusely two¬ 
toothed, channelled down the middle, keeled at the back, light 
green. Peduncle as thick as a goose-quill, as long as or longer 
than the leaves, sub-erect, with a few distant fleshy ovate green 
bracts ; raceme 4 to 5 inches long, laxly many-flowered ; bracts 
small, triangular, persistent ; pedicels a quarter of an inch and 
short ovary and base of perianth externally speckled with red. 
Perianth three-quarters of an inch in diameter, sepals and petals 
sub-similar, spreading, oblong, obtuse, pure white with a few red 
specks or bars at the base. Lip very small, saccate ; fleshy, lateral 
lobes falcately oblong, obtuse, erect; intermediate very short, 
conical, obtuse ; disk with a fleshy two-lobed callus.” 
ORCHIDS IN UNHEATED HOUSES. 
It is often advised, and rightly, that it is unwise to attempt 
growing Orchids in greenhouses, but tins, of course, refers to houses 
where hardwooded plants, such as Heaths, &c., are grown, which 
need an abundant supply 7 of air at all seasons. During the summer 
however, many Orchids can be satisfactorily grown.in unheated 
houses, and they can be kept healthy during the winter if the tem¬ 
perature can be prevented falling below 40°, or preferably 45°. I 
have a small house the roof of which is covered with a Black Ham¬ 
burgh Vine, while on the stages I grow a number of Ferns with a 
few flowering plants, and amongst the latter are some Orchids, a 
few of which have flowered excellently this summer. No heat is 
employed during the summer months, and though our Grapes are 
late they both colour and ripen well, the foliage affording just as 
much shade as the Orchids and Ferns require. The best of the 
Orchids is Odontoglossum Rossi, which has even recovered from a 
rather severe freezing, and flowers each season abundantly, lasting 
for several weeks. 0. Cervantesi is not quite so happy, but that 
also has flowered well this season. O. crispum I have in several 
varieties, and it is thoroughly at home, but not quite so hardy as the 
preceding. As an experiment I tried O. vexillarium, but though it 
still appears healthy the flowers will not develope, and it will have 
to be discarded in favour of the others. My most useful and long- 
lasting Orchid has been Epidendrum vitellinum, the rich colour of 
which afforded a fine contrast with the Odontoglossums. Masde- 
vallias of the Lindeni and Harryana types grow and flower freely, 
and with the aid of a few Adiantums we have been able to make up 
several rather effective little groups.—II. H. M. 
