The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1886-11-04
ILLINOIS FRUIT DRYING.
THE ANCIENT AND MODERN STYLE
OF DRYING APPLES.

How the Process of Evaporation Is Now
Conducted by Fruit Dryers--In an Evap-
Grafton northumberland of the
Iniustry-wages Paid.
The apple drying of the early days is now
the great and growing evaporation business
of to-day Mans ingenuity has not only done
away with the old and laborious manner of
taking out the price of fruit for home con-
sumption, but it has built up an enormous
trade in which not only the meat of the fruit
is preserved for future use, but the peel and
the cores are utilized. The instigating cause
of the vast spread in the business is found in
several facts Numerous storms blow the
fruit from the trees to the ground, making
the apples unfit To ship, and the cider mills
fail to create sufficient demand for cider to
use the fruit for that purpose Canning the
fruit adds to the bulk, while evaporating re-
duces it,
Incorporating establishment consists of a
building having in it number of towers rum
ming from the basement to and through the
roof. The towers are made of wood and are
about three feet square, Running down the
outside and up tho inside of two sides of the
tower is an endless belt which runs over
pulley and is moved by means of crank at
the base of the tower, About eight inches
from each other elects are fastened to the belt
There being n belt on each side of the tower,
a wire-bottomed tray containing the green
fruit is pushed through an aperture in the
tower and rests on the elects The crank is
turned sufficiently to bring up another pair
of elects and another tray is fitted in its place,
and SO ON until there are enough trays to
make n tier reaching to the top, where, after
being in the tower from four TO five hours,
the trays are taken out, there being tray
put in at the bottom each time one Is taken
out at the top. The heat in the tower is kept
at 40 degrees by means of furnace located
at the base of each tower, and in which coal
fires are kept burning, never being allowed TO
10 out during an evaporating season. In
order to make the fruit bleach into snowy
whitencss instead of becoming brown, as IL
used to, it is put into trays and into bleach
ing tower, at the bottom of which birthstone
is burned, the fumes doing the work OF
whitening These towers are called bleach
ers.
PAIRING AND sLICING MACHINES.
Apples are hauled In from the country and
weighed in bulk, fifty pounds being con-
sidered bushel. The seller is paid for the
apples at from twenty five TO thirty cents per
100 pounds, and they are unloaded into huge
bins Young girls and middle-aged women
make up almost the entire force employed in
an evaporation. A long table runs the entire
length of the room, the pairing and slicing
machines being placed on the table. A first
| class machine peels and cuts up into rings,
taking out the core Of one apple in something
less than a second and by one continuous
movement of the crank The machine is very
simple and costs SlS A girl will stand at
the machine, turn the crank with one hand
and place the apples on the prongs with the
other, and prepare fifty bushels of apples per
day. She is required TO have two helpers,
however, whose duty 1t is to cut the sliced
| apple apart with knife and TO cut away the
decayed parts.
What class of girls do this work! One
might say all classes. They como In from tho
country the lass from the rural district meet
ing her cityfied cousin on the same plane
Girls who have been successful and unsuc-
cessful behind dry goods counters will grind
an apple machine day in and day out making
less complaint than a man. Many young
girls who have good homes and are not re-
quired TO work for their living, apply for
employment in evaporating establishments.
The operators say they prefer female to mnlc
help in the business, and nine-tenths of the
concerns to day are employing girls almost
exclusively. They require breaking In how
ever, the main trouble at the start being their
inherent disposition to talk and retard work.
The girl who works the machine Is paid four
cents bushel for each bushel peeled, divid-
ing the same equally between herself and the
two girls who act as helpers This would
| III, N I'll n. a rfxy
course, those who do more work get more
pay. As fast as the fruit Is dried II Is gener-
ally shipped TO market A girl will do the
packing. A box holding fifty pounds will
have the bottom "laid" with pieces Of tho
dried fruit, and will then be filed up, the
under side being opened when the box is dis
played for sale.
THE FEELINGS AND CORES.
OF course the market varies on the price
realized, but it averages about five cents for
choice rings There are generally sixty
hands employed about the average evapora-
tor. Besides the peters, hands are employed
TO supply the girls with apples, to put them
in and take them out Of the towers, to help
unload from the wagons, and night and day
hands TO fire the furnaces and watch the
fruit in process Of evaporation. A bushel
| OF apples VIII tufn OuJ uDOut I'VE pOunuS VI
dried fruit from which 1t win be seen that
there Is fair profit In the business
The Feelings and cores are evaporated In
the same manner as the apples, and are
packed and shipped away, selling In the
neighborhood Of two cents pound. These
goods are used for making jelly, and a goodly
portion Of the jellies seen on the shelves OF
grocery stores has been squeezed from apple
peels and cores. Dried fruit Is not only used
to a large extent here, but Is exported,
France consuming large amount annually.
The evnporators do an immense amount Of
good TO the community in which they are
located. Besides employing labor they create
demand for fruit which could find no mar
ket The dried fruit Is shipped mostly to
Chicago commission merchants, who find no
trouble in making ready sales. Some Of the
more wealthy operators do not sell at once,
but hold for winter prices. Most Of them,
however, 90 on the small profit and quick re-
turn principle. --Centralia qlls.) Cor. Chicago
Tribune.