The Delaware ledger. (Newark, Del.) 1879-19??, 1886-10-09
ILLINOIS FRUIT DRYING.
THE ANCIENT AND MODERN STYLE
OF DRYING APPLES.

NOW thc Process OF Evaporation l. Now
Conducted by Fruit Dryers-In an Evap-
Grafton EstabIishment-I,xtent Of tho
Indnstry-wagcs Paid.
Tho apple drying of the carly 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 homo 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 arc utilized. The instfgating 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 n 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
building having in it a 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 crank at
the base Of the tower About eight inches
from each other elects arc fastened to the belt.
There being a belt OH each side of the tower,
wire-bottomed tray containing tho 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
mako tier reaching 10 the top, where, after
being in the tower from four to five hours,
fnn NsuNr N.lH,.
put in at the bottom each time one is taken
out at the top. The heat in the tower is kept
at 10 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 cvaporating season. In
order to mako 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
ers.
PAIRING AND sLIcING MACHINES.
Apples are hauled in from the country and
weighed in bulk, fifty pounds being con-
sidered n bushel. The seller is paid for the
apples at from twenty-five to thirty cents per
100 pounds, and they arc unloaded into huge
bins Young girls and middle-aged women
mako up almost the entire force employed in
an evaporator n long table runs the entire
length of ehe room, the pairing and slieing
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 tho 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 tho sliced
apple apart with knife and 10 cut away the
decayed parts
What class of girls do this work! Ono
might say all classes. They come in from the
country, the lass from the rural district meet
ing her cityled 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 cooperating establishments
The operators say they prefer female to male
help in the business, and nine-tenths of the
concerns today are employing girls almost
exclusively They require breaking in how.
inherent disposition to talk and retard work
The girl who works the machine is paid foui
cents bushel for each bushel peeled, divd
ing the same equally between herself and the
two girls who act as helpers This would
give each q trifle over sixty cents O day. Oh
course, those who do more work get mort
pay. As fast as the fruit is dried it is goner
ally shipped to market A girl will do Tn,
packing. box holding fifty pounds will
have the bottom "laidn with pieces of til,
dried fruit and will then be filled up, tn,
under side being opened when tho box is dis
played for sale.
THE FEELINGS AND CORES.
OF course the market varies on the pric,
realized, but it averages about five cents fol
choice rings. There are generally sixty
hands employed about the average evapora
tor Besides the peelers, hands are cmploye,
to supply the girls with apples, TO put then
in and take them out of the towers, to he'll
unload from the wagons, and night and dal
hands to fire the furnaces and watch tn
fruit in process Of evaporation. A bushe
Of apples will turn out about five pounds o
dried fruit, from which it will be seen tina
there is n fair profit in the business.
Tho Feelings and cores are evaporated il
the same manner as tho apples, and mr.
packed and shipped away, selling in tn
noighborhood Of two cents n pound Thes
goods arc used for making jelly, and good,
portion Of the jollics seen on the shelves o
grocery stores has been squeezed from appl
pecls and cores Dried fruit is not only use,
TO n large extent here, but is exported
France consuming large amount annually
The cvaporators do an immense amount O
good 10 the community in which they ar
locatcd. Besides employing labor they Great
demand for fruit which could find no maj
lSet The dried fruit is shipped mostly t
Chicago commission merchants, who find Il
trouble in making ready sales Some Of tn
more wealthy operators do not sell at once
but hold for winter prices. Most Of then
however, 90 on the small profit and quick r,
turn principle. -Ccntralin dlls.l Cor Chicag
Tribune,
A Careful Chnperone.