Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-09-27
ILLINOIS FRUIT DRYING.
THE ANCIENT AND MODERN STYLE
OF DRYING APPLES.

How the Process of Evaporation is Now
Conducted ny Fruit Dryer--In an Evap-
oration EstabIishment-Extent of the
Industry-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 ont the price of fruit for home CON
sumption, but it has built up an enormous
trade i'm 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
tine apples unfit To ship, and the cider mills
fail to create a sufficient demand for cider to
use the fruit for that purpose. Canning the
fruit adds TO the bulk, while evaporating re-
duceS it.
uevapOrating establishment consists of a
building having i'll it n number of towers run
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 the inside Of two sides of the
tower is an endless belt, which runs over a
pulley and is moved by means of a crank at
the base Of the tower About eight inches
|, from each other elects are fastened To the belt
There being 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 50 on until there are enough trays to
make a tier reaching 20 the top, where, after
being in the tower from four to five hours,
the trays are taken out, there being a 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 a furnace located
at the base of each tower, and in which coal
fires are kept burning, never being allowed to
go out during an evapOrating season In
order to make the fruit bleach into snowy
whiteness instead of becoming brown, as it
used to, it is put into trays and into "A bleach
ing tower, at the bottom of which birthstone
is burned, the fumes doing the work of
whitening. These towers are called bleach
eTS
PAIRING AND sLICING MACHINES.
Apples are hauled in from tine country and
weighed in bulk, fifty pounds being con-
sidered a bushel The seller is paid for the
apples at from twenty y-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 evapOratOr. 4 long table runs the entire
length of the room, the pairing and slicing
machines being placed on the table \ first
class machine pcels 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 SIS. 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 it 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 come in from the
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 male
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 retarl 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
give each trifle over sixty cents day OF
course, those who do more work get more
pay. As fast as the fruit is dried it is gener-
ally shipped to market \ girl will do the
packing. A box holding fifty pounds will
have the bottom laid" with pieces of the
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