Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-09-24
FRENCH PRUNES IN CALIFORNIA,
Drying the French Prune-Extraor-
dinary Profit of the Industry In
California.

Drying the TenCh ffuue-EAtIdoT~
dinary Profit of the Industry in
California.
Hon. JOS Routier, of Sacramento County
California is certainly the paradise OF
the fruit grower. A fortune can be
made in ten years from fruit ranch CT
eighty acres, or even Of forty acres, mostly
by nybody blessed with that amount OF
good land. Now will demonstrate how
an enterprising man, with very limited
capital, can also make himself and family
very comfortable and even rich with ten
acres of bottom land if planted in French
Prunes, or Petite Prunes d'Orgen, which
is the same thing.
The trees must be grated or budded
on plum stock, and be one or two years
old-I prefer one year old trees. They
must be planted about twenty-one feet
apart, so it will take 100 trees per acre.
Good trees ought to be had for twenty
cents apiece, or by the thousand for fif-
teen cents. The holes must be ding from
two to three feet square, according to the
quality Of the soil.
The fonrth season after planting, and
even the third if your trees have been
we'll taken care of, you will obtain about
ten pounds OF primes to each tree, enough
to initiate yourself to the drying business
The fifth year you will get about sixty
pounds to each tree. The sixth year one
hundred and twenty pounds or mole to
the tree. After that your trees are in full
bearing, producing according to location
and care, from one hundred and fifty to
three hundred pounds to the tree.
The only trouble now is the drying OF
the prunes in satisfactory manner,
without spending thousands of dollars in
building driers. Driers are necessity
in Oregon, or any other wet country, but
here in California we can dry French
prunes to perfection without driers
sometimes in one week. and more gen
erally in two weeks, in following the fol
lowing instructions
Do not pick the prunes by hand, as
thov do not all ripen at the same time
but in about three weeks. Begin te
shake the trees towards the twentieth o.
August, then every week after, and on
the fourth time pick them clean.
Now for drying. The only apparatus
is an iron kettle holding from twenty
five to fifty gallons Of water. To each
twen]y gallons of water add one pounc
of the best concentrated lie; have the
water boiling. then take a wire basket o
some kind, the homemade one will dt
best, put twenty pounds of green pruneE
in your basket, dip them in the boiling
kettle, let them remain in there abou
one minute, till you perceive that thu
skin of your prunes are cracked all over
then take them out and lay them on {
tray, and in one week or ten days, &C
cording to the heat of the sun, you
prunes will be dried enough to put then
loose in any kind of boxes holding TIT,
or seventy-fve pounds. The trays cal
be made very cheaply (about ten cent
each) with four sawed redwood shake
three feet long nailed on very primitiv
frame, by anybody who ever used saV
and hammer.
Now, when your prunes are all dried
and you want to give them the tinishln
gloss for the market, do as follows: Eli
the kettle again with water, but this tim
no I've is wanted, and when the water
( boiling steep your prunes in it with you
wire basket for about minute, till ever
prune Is made quite hot, then expos
them to the sun for that day, and tn
next morning you can pack them !
1 boxes or sacks, as you prefer. This las