Los Angeles daily herald., 1890-03-14
THE FRUIr-GROWERS.
Drying and Shipment Of
Fruits.
OLIVE AND CITRUS CULTURE
Floral and Forest Cultivation Dis,
cussed at the Evening Session.
Interesting Papers.

The Fruit Growers Convention held
three interesting sessions yesterday. n
the morning the subject discussed WAS
preparing and shipping fruit for the mar
ket, and J. l.. Mosher's paper on Fruit
Drying" was the first read. In it he
said:
"The drying and preserving of fruitsis
one of the leading industries OF or
State, and no other industry has 80 great
future before it. With an evaporsbr
it does not require any great amount Of
skill to produce most excellent articls,
superior to all other ways of curing fruit,
and rivaling, as it does, the ordinary
canned goods. With an evsporator it s
very essential to have draught of ar,
hot enough 10 keep the fruit moist, ard
still carry off the moisture. The moe
rapid the evaporation the better the re-
suit, both in color and flavor, as tie
starch, by evaporation cf the water, is
quickly converted into sugar. Tie
slower the evaporation the less sugar q.
retained in the fruit, and for this rsastn
a cool draught of air should never pass
over the fruit. The velocity of air pass
ing through, when drying, should range
about 900 feet per minute. If the ar,
loaded with moisture, becomes station
ary, evaporation ceases. The tempeia-
ture should not exceed 200 &C.
grees Fahrenheit. The fruit should
oe thoroughly ripe before plac-
ing on wire trays, and here is
the greatest drawback. The acid OF the
fruit coming in contact with the galvsn-
lied wire forms precipitate of sulphate
of zinc, which is very detrimental TO the
taste of the fruit, and which l believe
our customers claim to be the results of
sulphuring. Here is an open field for
our inventors to overcome this trouble.
The results obtained in many expert
ments tried in my establishment have
proved that dipping the trays in hot gly-
cerine is very good. We are now trying
japan and baking it on the trays, which
| believe will be the best of anything yet
tried. The zinc certainly must be re-
moved in some way or other, or the
fruit will be unstable. Before packing
the fruit should be dipped in hot water
for few seconds to kill all germs and
insects, and spread out to dry. The adj
vantage in evaporated fruit is that il can
be shipped over the world without danger
to it's preservative qualities, and at
great saving in cost of freight, compared
to the canned goods. In canned goods
the fruit lacks rlpeness and sugar has to
be added. In evaporation the fruit can
be entirely ripe and the natural fruit
sugar is retained while drying and again
evaporat, d fruit is a pure article, and
when soaked in water a short time will
resume nearly it's original proportions.
Taking ali this into consideration, evap-
Grafton is the process of the present.
FRUIT SHIPMENTS.
The next essay was by L. w. Buck, Of
Vacaville, who talked on Eastern fruit
shipments. In the course of his re-
marks he said:
The shipment of green fruit to the
East has become an important and grow
ing industry. Successful results are de-
pendent upon several conditions, some
Of which are beyond the control of the
shippers to meet-climatic changes and
unavoidable delays in transportation ; but
much depends upon condition and man.
ner Of packing, packing and boxing, as
we'll as the handling which the fruit re-
ceives before being stripped and loaded
ON the Cars. In the early shipment OF
fruit from California to the East, pears of
various kinds, gross pranes and grapes
were about the only kinds shipped, but
now the peach has become prominent as
a shipping fruit, and in all the markets
of the East fine, large, high-colored Cali
fornia peaches have bee me almost ne
cessity to dress up the various fruit
stands, command good prices, and retain
more of their flavor than any fruit ex-
cept pears; and whenever the railroad
companies will reduce the freight |
think they will receive much larger net
revenue in consequence of very much
increased shipments, and whenever that
good tin g comes, believe that Califor-
mia will, to very large extent, supply
the fruit market of the East, both green
and dried. The channels of distribution
have been largely extended, and 1 be-
lieve the business is still in its infancy.
The time was when growers could sell all
their shipping fruit at good prices, but
the rgely increased orchard and vine
planting has changed that, and made it
necessary in many instances for gro ~ers
to unite and ship their fruit to the East,
aud that is more easily accomplished
through local or neighboring organiza-
ttoUE, pfcNoHb Ou6 ludIk6J IEOlQ Db-
ing overloaded, while others receive
none; and could all the shipping inter-
cells be united, both growers and ship
pers, good results would be reached as,
without concentration and control, the
business would certainly be endangered
by one party or locality shipping the
fruit where it would be sold in COMPETE
ton with that of their neighbors. The
California Fruit Union has been in exist
ence now four years, and, / believe, has
accomplished much good. While started
as an exclusive growers organization, it
was wisely changed 30 as to admit buy
ers and shippers with good results, as
the larger the proportion of fruit that can
be under our control the better, the
weaker the competition and the more
regularly can all the different markets
be supplied The special train service
has done much to accomplish this, rs it
has generally been the most certain SER
vice we have had, as well as the cheap
est, and the advantage of special trains
of deciduous fruit can only be obtained
by the organic alton of shipping interests,
the buyer helping the grower and the
grower helping the buyer, as deciduous
fruits must be packed and shipped ss
quickly as possible after being picked,
and much of it must have a Quick and
certain delivery to points of destination.
FRUIT DRYING.
The next paper was by w. N. GLADDEN.,
of HaaIdshurp WhO read on ;nto.o,t;pn