The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1881-01-20
The Traffic In Dried Fruits.

fruit has led to the employment of
many methods for its preservation, the
most primitive OF which is probably
that of drying. Although recent i'm.
Lrovement5 in canning processes have
created an increased demand for canned
fruits, the market for the dried article
is brisk every wear. Many commercial
firms in New York deal almost exclu.
sively in dried fruits, or make this article
n leading specially. Besides the demand
for dried fruits in that market, there is
every year large demand for export to
foreign countries. Dealers also do a
large trade with the Western States and
Territories. In many of these, &C.
pecially the later settled districts, farm
| ers have net had time to grow orchards
as yet, and so must buy their fruit, both
! fresh and preserved. l. led fruit is also
much used in the mining regions, being
easily transported; and the miner must
often take his choice between dried
apple pie or none at all.
Dried peaches, berries, plums and
cherries, find a good market in the
| Western States, and are made into pies,
puddings and sauce. Few of these
smaller fruits are exported, the foreign
| demand being chiefly for apples. Of
these there were exported in October of
last year 1858, 044 pounds, and in the
| first ten months of the year, a. .499, l56
pounds. The export trade has in
creased largely, of late, as will be seen
by the record of 1874, when only
| 202 1872 pounds were exported. In
1876 the exports rose to G, 200, ,535 pounds,
and last year when the apple crop was
much less than the present year, there
were exported 5,S95 256 pounds. France,
| Rol lrri1 nn1o nd o1.o oil
using more dried apples this year than
usual. This is result of the general
failure of the apple crop in those coun-
tries, and also of the unusually low
prices in this country. Evaporated "
fruit. which sold last year from thirteen
to sixteen cents a pound, now sells at
from six to eight cents. Common
fruit, which last year brought from
seven to nine cents, now brings only
from four and one-half to five and one
half cents.
On account of the general failure of
the grape crop as well as the apple crop
in France, the distillers in that country
are using large quantities of dried ap-
pies for the manufacture of brandy. The
common grades of apples are preferred
tor this purpose, especially Southern
fruit, which is said to yield ten per cent.
more alcohol than ordinary fruit. An
import duty of one-half cent pound
was to be levied on dried apples in
Fran e after January |. Previously,
dried apples have been on the free list in
that country. The exporting of the or
dinary stock tends to keep the market
firm, and dealers are generally confident
of good prices. The English market
will take little except evaporated apple
and it is only within few years that
any have been shipped there; but the
demand now is steadily increasing. For
the German market fruit dried in quar-.
tiers is preferred. "Sun dried" apples
are about the only kind shipped to Con
tinental Europe.
The "evapor ated" " apples are dried
very quickly, by artificial heat, in &
carefully constructed apparatus. After
being peeled, cored and sliced trans
versely into thin rings the fruit is sub
jected to the fumes OF sulphur, which
causes the white color to be retained ir
drying. So effectually does this fumi
CATION arrest decay that quantities o
the apples may be left several days be-
fore drying without injury. "Evapo
rated" apples are generally packed il
wooden boxes containing about fifty
pounds The common grades art
packed in barrels.
All of the older States send more o.
less dried apples to this market. New
York State takes the lead, and Ohio anC
Indiana comes next. Tennessee anC
other States in the Southwest also SEM
large quHnlies. Dried peaches ant
b,ackberli53 come in large part from
North Carolina. Peaches are also driet
ny the evaporation process, and there i
some demand for them in the Englisl
market. Although there was a yer
| large yield of apples last year, dealer
say that there was not corresponding
large amount dried. The reasons give
are, that driers generally anticipate
that large quantities would be dried an
that prices in consequence would b
, low; accordingly they were afraid t
engage in the business very largely.
is also stated that the cold weathe
l coming SO early in the season destroye
many apples that otherwise would hav
/ been dried.-NeW York Tribune.