THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
a'o3 
1911. 
THE PRUNE IN WESTERN WASHINGTON 
AND OREGON. 
Fifteen or 20 years ago prune orchards 
in the coast country of Oregon and 
Washington, and drying houses for pre¬ 
paring the fruit for market, were as 
“plentiful as blackberries.” At the pres¬ 
ent time the majority of the trees have 
disappeared, and the most of the drying 
houses are things of the past, being like 
the hop industry in this respect. At 
that time our newspapers were full of 
the stories of the great wealth that 
would come to us from the production 
of that fruit. Since then has come ex¬ 
perience. The fact remains that we can 
grow here on this northwest Pacific 
coast the finest plum (or the prune, so 
called) that the world can produce. 
However, the development of a profitable 
market for them has as yet not been 
very encouraging. There are no local 
markets or demand for any considerable 
quantities of the fruit, and our plums 
do not ship east as well as the fruit 
Experience with Cherry Tree. 
J. H. E., Perryman , Md .—It may be an 
old story, but my experience was so strik¬ 
ing that it will bear repeating. Last 
Spring, with other trees I got a Black Tar¬ 
tarian cherry. Shortly after planting it put 
out a few leaves, but did not grow over 
one-third normal size, and in the early 
part of June these leaves began to turn 
black. June 20 I put a V-shaped trough 
on the south side of this tree. Iu one week 
new growth started and in a short time six 
inches of new wood with large healthy 
leaves crowned the tree. Can you account 
for this? 
Ans. —The cherry is a tree that wants 
a mild and yet not a hot climatic condi¬ 
tion. It is my belief that the very hot 
sunshine on the newly-set tree was caus¬ 
ing evaporation of the sap through its 
pores in leaf and stem faster than the 
roots could supply it, hence the failure 
to grow off well and the partial dying 
of the leaves. The board protection 
checked the evaporation and enabled the 
tree to resume and maintain normal 
conditions of sap circulation; that is, 
absorption and exhalation of internal 
moistures. The growth then increased 
and both root and top became healthy 
and vigorous. h. e. van deman. 
grown in the drier climate of eastern 
Washington or Oregon. The prune 
grown here is the Fellenberg plum, and 
called the Italian prune. That grown in 
California is the smaller French or 
Petite prune, a sweetish and insipid fruit 
compared with the former, but it is more 
easily handled and is there cheaply dried 
in the open air, spread upon trays. Here 
all drying must be done in houses with 
artificial heat, and is a somewhat long 
and tedious process because of the large 
size and juiciness of our prunes. 
The prune is dried in pretty much the 
same manner as other fruit, spread upon 
trays of open-work wire cloth. Instead 
of wire cloth sometimes wood slat bot¬ 
toms are used. These trays are placed, 
one above another, on the second floor 
of the dry house, the heated air from 
furnace room below passing upward and 
through the fruit. Our prunes weighing 
eight or 10 to the pound are slow in dry¬ 
ing, and lose three-fourths of their 
weight in the process. In commercial 
work the prunes are first dipped in a 
boiling lye solution. A couple of cans 
of lye to 40 gallons of water is about 
right. They are then redipped in a vat 
of clear water to rinse them. This 
cleans the fruit from all mold or other 
germs, and also thins the skin to facili¬ 
tate the drying process. The fruit 
should be of a leathery texture when 
taken from the trays, but without any 
juice showing in the flesh when opened. 
Experience soon guides in this. As taken 
from the trays the fruit is placed in a 
pile or heap on a floor or bin to undergo 
the curing or sweating process, which in 
a few days will occur. The pile should 
be shovelled over several times, eight or 
10 days apart, when the fruit will assume 
an even texture as found in market. 
Hardly two drying houses common in 
Washington and Oregon are alike. Many 
are patented, the object aimed at being 
to facilitate the work and to save labor. 
We have seen the fruit dried simply 
spread upon a slat floor over a furnace 
room, as was common in New York 
State for the evaporation of the apple 
product, and the fruit shoveled over sev¬ 
eral times to facilitate drying. The 
main essentials in these establishments 
are a draft or movement of the heated 
air through the fruit above. This means 
a tall air shaft on building, or better, a 
forced draft by engine and blower. And 
the fruit should not be less than eight 
or lo feet above the top of furnace, as 
with a temperature of 175 or 200 degrees 
in furnace room much of the juice will 
run out of the fruit unless with a very 
strong draft. The fruit must be dead 
ripe and ready to fall from the tree. 
And here is where we “fell down” with 
the drying business. Half of the crop 
was on the ground and spoiled before 
we could handle the other half. In the 
drier climate of eastern Washington 
they are more easily taken care of. Here 
they grow larger and are not so dry- 
fleshed, and we now find it better to dis¬ 
pose of our prunes in a half ripened 
condition to a jelly factory or canning 
plant. Small lots of plums or prunes 
for home use can be nicely evaporated 
on a cookstove drier. The fruit should 
be cut into halves and placed on the 
trays with cut side up. The Peach plum 
thus dried is a very choice product. And 
some day our prunes of tiiis northwest 
Pacific coast will be counted as the high¬ 
est product for excellence of any of the 
whole list of the dried fruits, j. f. c. 
Mt. Vernon, Wash. 
Keeping Turnip-rooted Parsley. 
I grew an acre of turn ip- rooted Ham¬ 
burg parsley aud have a small greenhouse 
beated by dues, 40 by 40. I have trans¬ 
planted the parsley in this house on top 
and beneath the benches. It got a good 
start and grew for about two weeks, then 
the roots began to get a gray mold, and 
this destroyed about half of the crop. 
The same mold went over the whole green¬ 
house, destroying both plants and cuttings 
in sand beds. How can I keep this mold 
from my plants? A gray root begins on 
the crown of the roots, makes a bad odor 
through the whole house. Can parsley 
(turnip-rooted) be kept over Winter by 
storing it away in some cool place instead 
of planting in greenhouse? a. a. b. 
Fairhaven, Pa. 
Turnip-rooted or Hamburg parsley, the 
edible portion of which is the fleshy roots, 
somewhat resembles small parsnip. These 
roots do not force well or grow under ex¬ 
treme heat. To keep them during Winter 
they may be trenched or kept in a cool 
cellar, the same as celery or oyster plants. 
If kept in the open ground, select dry soil, 
dig a narrow trench the width of a spade 
of a suitable depth for the roots, so the 
crown will be about even with the surface. 
Pack the roots tightly in an upright posi¬ 
tion. then cover with boards nailed V- 
shape so as to shed all water, as the 
crown of the roots must be kept dry. On 
the approach of cold weather and when 
the ground freezes, cover the trench and 
board together with long horse manure to 
exclude frost. t. M. white. 
Equip Your Garden Right 
Get the new s«sh that has two layers of glass and nce< 
no mats or other covers. Grow your flowers and veget 
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glass always growing. 
Send For These Two Boohs 
One is our valuable free cat-, 
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tells what and when to plant in 
hot-beds and cold-frames. Send 
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addition to free catalog. 
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323-375 Lock Street, CINCINNATI, OHIO 
Why you can 
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GUARANTEED FOR LIFE 
Again and again in our daily corres¬ 
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“An owner recommends your car to me.” 
In former issues of this paper we have told 
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But no argument can be as convincing as 
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The Hupmobile is a splendid car for your 
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THE GUARANTEE 
This guarantee is explicit, unqualified and 
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material or workmanship. The guarantee 
reads: 
The Hupp Motor Car Company guarantees 
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workmanship, during the life of the car, and 
will replace, free of charge, any such defec¬ 
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Have a roof of solid rock—a roof that 
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Bond for Free Booklet “Roofs’' 
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PETER COOPER’S PURE BONE DUST 
THE OLD RELIABLE SINCE 1827 
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The Le Roy Turns the Earth.” 
The Le Roy Plow Co., Le Roy, N. Y., have built up a 
wonderful reputation on a wonderful Walking 
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mmm Standards— Chilled Iron or Steel Bot- 
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£ to Operate, the same as the big line of 
Le Roy Walking Plows. Ask for our 
1911 catalogue. 
You usually can find them with your 
best dealers. 
LE ROY PLOW CO, Le Roy, N. Y._ 
