The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1873-07-12
Drying Fruit.
Mobile Register.

tMODlIe Register.
A wonderful fruit.drying apparatus
is now operating in the North, working
a complete revolution in that line.
We ought to have it here, for in the
lower Southern States thousands upon
thousands of bushels of fruit will go to
waste this year for wantOf a convenient
market. The new apparatus is some
what eXpensive--tOO much so for per-
son who grows fruit ON a small scale,
but the Farmer and Gardener thinks
money could be made by enterprising
companies who would form and nut
one up i'll each neighborhOOd where
fruits and vegetables could or might
be had for drying on large scale.
once. the concern was under way,
creating d good market for products,
the people would exert themselves, and
there would be no trouble about supplies.
The editor does not look far to find an
example. Six years ago watermelOns
were grown i'll the neighborhOod of Au-
gusta for consumption in the city, and
for a limited expectation to other places.
Now the area planted in watermelons
for shipment to the New York market
has assumed such vast proportions
that the watermelon crop of Richmond
county, Ga, is of more value than all
the other fruit crops combined. The
cause OF this innovation is due to the
fact that a good market and ready sale
has been secured.
We would like to see a fruit drying
establishment put up in this section ;
II properly managed, it would pay the
originator well, and give a great irnpe-
tus to fruit growing.
We give extracts from the discussions
OF the Illinois State horticultural So
ciety, which may prove of interest to
our readers: These are copied from a
recent.number Of the '"Prairie Farmer .
Hon. S. A. E. Holcomb, of South Pass,
explained the Alden process, and ad-
ded: "Our experience with apples is,
that we ma Ike six pounds of dried ap-
pies to the bushel. We have dried a
few peaches and pears the past season,
and about 5000 bushels of apples, mot
over 90 of which were fit to 90 to mar
ket. It cost about $4,000 to prepare
them, the work being mostly done by
persons who would otherwise have been
idle or done little. The fruit costs us
123 cents per pound, put in barrels. We
must sell at 20cents to make it paying
Investment. At that'price, however, it
Schuyler Cook Co.. exhibited samples
of the Autumn Swarr, dried, that an
peared very white; also of pumpkin,
Hubbard squash, peaches and ounces.
At Niles, Michigan, he stated, we can
prepare apples bought at 40 per bushel
for a cost of 10 per pound We do not
put them on the market before January.
The fruit is much liked. A man at
Denver bought two barrels on trial and
then ordered 100. He can sell them at
40 cents perpOund. .Apie bakery ofChi-
cago tried them and found that pies made
from them could not be distinguished
from green apple pies. The price seems
high at 90 cents, but compared with
apples in barrels it is low. We have
ten factories under the Alden patent in
the West, two of which we own ex-
clusively, and eight of which we own
a half interest in. There is one at Anna,
and another at South Pass, Union
county, one at Pana, Christian county,
and one at Fowler, Adams county, Iii.
nOis. We have ready a 81 900 machine
that will dry so bushels day. The
larger ones dry from 100 to $50. We can
use bruised apples. All of the fruit can
| be used,