Wichita eagle., 1886-11-20
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ILLINOIS FRUIT DRYING.
THE ANCIENT AND MODERN STYLE
OF DRYING APPLES.


Conducted by Fruit Dryers-In an Evap-
Grafton Northumberland 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 out the price of fruit for home con-
sumption, but it has built up an enormous
/ tr@9Sfn which not only the meat Of the fruit
{ Is preserved for future use, but the peel and
s the cores are utilized. The instigating cause
+ of the vast spread in the business is found in
i several facts. Numerous storms blow the
fruit from the trees to the ground, making
Z the apples unfit TO ship, and the cider mills
4 fail to create sufficient demand for cider to
use tho fruit for that purpose, Canning the
| fruit adds to the bulk. while evaporatlnS re- |
| duces it.
Anevaporating establishment consists of a
/ building having in it 4 number Of towers rum |
/ ming from the basement to and through the
1 roof The towers are made Of wood and are
about three feet square Running down the
1 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
i the base of the tower. About eight inches
from each other elects are fastened TO the belt
There being a 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 inits place,
ana 50 on until there are enough trays to
make a tier reaching to the top, where, after
/ being il the tower from four 10 five hours,
I the trays are taken out, there being a tray
4 put in al the bottom each time one is taken
4 out AZ the top. The heat in the tower is kept
+ at 10 degrees by means OF furnace located
at the base of each tower, and in which coal
4 fires are kept burning, never being allowed TO
go out during an evaporating season. In
order 70 make the fruit bleach into snowy
whiteness instead of becoming brown, it
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 u 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 III
an evaporator \ long table runs the entire
length Of the room, the pairing and slicing
machines being placed on the table. y 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 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 cityfed cousin on the same plane.
Girls who have been successful and unsuc-
cessful behind dry goods counters viii grind
an apple machine day in and day out, making
less complaint than man. Many young
girls who have good homes and are not re
quirol 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 tho
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 busbel for each bushel peeled, divid-
ing the same equally between herself and the
two girls who act as helpers This would
give each Il trifle over sixty cents day. Of
course, those who DO more work get more
paw As fast as the fruit is dried it Is Sener-
ally shipped to market. \ girl viii do the
packing. \ box holding fifty pounds viii
have the bottom "laid" with pieces Of the
dried fruit. and will then be filled up, the
l,,-,,- 10 I liz
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 peelers 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. \ bushol
of apples VIII turn out about five pounds Of
dried fruit. from which it viii he seen that
there is a fair profit in the business.
The Deelinrs and cores are cyapOrated in
the same manner as the apples, and are
paclcl and shipped away, selling in the
neighborhood Of two cents 4 pound. These
goods are used for making jelly, and goodly
portion ot t4iN i-alAtN SS'4i VI '4' ''eH -
Cro,erv stores has been squeezed from apple
peels and cores. Dried fruit Is not only used
10 n large extent here, but Is exported,
France consuming a large amount annually.
- The evauoratorS do an immense amount OF
good TO the community in which they are
located. Besides employing labor they create
n demand for fruit which could find no mar
ket The dried fruit is shipped mostly to
Chicago commission merchants, who find nc
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, so on the small profit and quick re
turn principle Centralia Gllsl Cor. Chicago
tribune
Getting Her Walked Up.
She-Not another word, Mr. Eicefenow.
Hush. impl0re yoU had no idea yoa were