Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1874-09-03
farm ann bonssboIo.
OrY1ng Fruit.

Inc time Is now at hand for having up a
stock of dried fruit against o year of
scarcity, which will undoubtedly come
soon enough. With such crop of apples
As i now hanging from the trees. where
they have not been destroyed by the cank.
er worm or tent caterpillar, it i. not to be
expected that much vigor will be lefl for
growing another crop next year. And. on
the whole, We are not sure but We ought
to be willing TO have our apples all come
IN alternate years until We can learn of
some efiectual method by which We NAV
control the labors of the curculio and the
codling moth. Both these insects would
be help 10 the orchardlst If they would
stop working as soon as they had suffi-
ciently thinned out the immature fruit.
but they have not yet been trained in that
way They seem to.work wholly on their
own account and show no disposition 10
pay any regard whatever to the wants or
opinions of the owner of the trees. Prob
ably they consider themselves the owners
and feel justified in acting accordingly.
IL
failure in most sections OF New England as
last year. There was not enough fruit set
TO give the insects one apiece, so every
apple that did grow was covered with
punctures and riddlcd by worms. The re-
suit was that We not only harvested
very small crop OF apples last year, bu, also
very light crop OF insects, too, of such
As depend upon the fruit for propagatins
their kind. This year. on the contrary.
The fruit is remarkably free from insect
depredations thus far. There have not
been enough insects TO allow one TO each
apple, and the apples on the trees at this
writing are as fair as western apples used
TO be few years ago. The curculio has
helped thin the fruit to small degree bu,
not any too much. while the cod.ing moth
mas a yet done no damage worth mention.
ing. 1t is possible that later brood NAV
Yet injuEe the late crop, but early apples
are already past danger.
There will be a large surplus OF early
apples, such as Porters and Gravensteins.
besides a great many varieties OF natural
irult, which cannot be used or marketed
as fast as they will ripen. These should
not 20 10 waste, but should be dried for
use next year. A good apple-parer, good
weather through September and a little
help from the boys and girls during the
evenings which are now beginning to
!engthen, will enable the prudent house
keeper to lay up store Of dried fruit such
a will make the heart glad.
In the Western and Middle States where
more account is made of drying fruit and
less OF canning, perhaps. than in New
England, artificial dryers are in quite COM
mon use. At a late meeting of the Alton
(Ill.) Horticultural Society, the subiec. of
dried fruit was discussed, and specimens
OF Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries,
corn, sweet potatoes aud pie plant, dried
by what was termed the Hawley's process.
were exhibited. committee was An.
pointed TO report upon the same, who.
with the assistance of a committee Of
ladies, whose aid was solicited, pronounced
the dried fruit presented of the very best
quality. The Agent of the Dry House Co..
was then called upon to explain the pro-
cess more fully aud said
''Our small family fruit-dryer, which will
dry bushel of green fruit iu day, Is
heated by kerosene lamp. The hot air
rises among the fruit, and, having an es-
cape ut the top. returns with downward
current, absorbing moisture from the fruit,
falling 10 ~
haust pipe at the bottom and thus escapes !;
no dry air can get out of the chamber, so
that all the heat is economical, and the
irut is quickly dried with no more heat
than IS emitted from q kero sene lamp.
Ihe dlnerence between fruit dried in
the sun and that by artificial heat, as by
this process. is very marked. To dry fruit
perfectly, the heat must not fall below
1902. With less heat than 1902, oxidizs.
ton takes place. That is, the fruit be-
comes in measure rotten, and the flavor
is destroyed. By our process we raise the
heat to 1902 in few minutes, which dries
fruit perfectly in a few hours, preserving
the flavor and appearance Of the green
fruit-so much so. that you can hardly tell
the difference when made into pie. The
reason is the moisture is absorbed so rap
idly that there Is no decay. re
THE value OF it to every man who
grows fruit at all, is apparent. There are
times when you cannot get . paying price
for your berries and perishable fruits,
which this dryer will save. That is, you
can pat your fruits in condition in which
they will keep till you can get fair price
for them"
We should think dryers similar to the
one described above, would find q ready
sale in the New England States this fall
If there are not too many patents con-
nected with it to be paid for at extrava-
giant prices. Let US dry . good stock Of
fruit By some means, either artificially Or
by sun heat.-[N. E. Farmer.