The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-08-08
EvAPORATORs FOR APPLES AND
OTHER FRUIT.

the territory this season, efforts should
at once be made to take care of and
handle the crop profitably. Much of
the fruit grown here in former years
has been woefully neglected and
wasted, farmers and orchardists JUS
tifying the waste on the plea that
the price of dried fruit hardly paid for
the labor. But this only applies, if at
all, to the inferior quality of so much
of Utah dried fruits. If a number one
quality is produced-which can be
done from our fine Utah fruits if prop
erly handled and manipulated-goo
paying prices can be realized. We are
satisfied of this from the fact that
so much California dried fruit is sold
in our own market.
To compete with outside fruit grow
ers more advanced methods must be
adopted by our home growers. The
fruit must be handled more intelli-
gently and systematically. Evapora-
tors should be procured, and the fruit
dried and cured on scientific principles.
Our horticultural friends will much
appreciate the following description,
given by Dr. Galen Wilson, in the New
York Tribune, of the manner of evap-
Grating fruit followed by $. a. Hos
mer, an extensive fruit grower and
evaporator, OF Monroe county, n. Y,
having two klins of the description
given of his own:
There are several different makes
and methods of evaporators, says DR..
Wilson, but what little material is
needed for the style now used, can
either be purchased at a hardware
store or be made by those who are
handy with tools. The tower style of
eVaporators consisted of a high tower,
in which were provided endless chains,
carrying racks on which the fruit was
spread, and a furnace beneath created
the necessary hot air. These racks
were of zinc. Acid fruit seemed to
absorb a trace of the zinc and as
much of the dried product found a
market in Germany, German chemists
soon discovered the trace of zinc, and
an cutlery was raised against fruit
dried in this manner, and this injured
its sale in that country (and now they
want ''wood-dried" fruit, but it is
not a detriment for consumption in
this country. The zinc scare is about
on a par with the recent grape scare
from spraying with poisons. 1t is es-
timated that one would have to con-
sumo 500 pounds of the apples at once
to get poisonous dose. Owing to this
scare, and to the fact that tower evap-
orators are much more expensive than
wood-drying, nine-tenths of the new
work which has been put up in the
last four years is of the hop-kiln
style.
A description of one of Mr.. Hos
mer's kilns follows: 1t is 1Sx22 The
Studding is 2X4, set a foot apart from
centre to centre. The frame is boarded
up and down with sound boards, a
foot wide. The edges of the board
lap on the studding, and are securely
nailed; this method is to keep the
boards from warping, and there can
be no cracks for the escape of heat.
There are two openings in the roof
feet square to give ventilation. The
posts of the building are 10 feet high.
Twelve feet above the stills is a floor
of Stats, sawed wedge-shape, the edges
Ike inch, and laid narrow edge down,
leaving a space three-eights of an
inch between the edges on the upper
side. No flooring is needed below.
Two large furnaces are set on the
ground. The smoke pipes are con-
Quoted around the room about two feet
below the fruit floor, to economize
and distribute the heat as evenly as
possible, then the pipes go through
the floor and out through the ven
tilators in the roof. Either wood or
coal may be used, whichever is the
cheaper; but care must be taken that
amount of smoke would give the fruit
faint The workroom may adjoin
the kiln, or be a distance from it.
Girls and boys Cheap help prepare
the apples on machines, of which there
are several good makes. Some be-
come very expert, and can prepare
seventy bushels in ten hours; but that
is double the general average. These
machines pare, core and drop the
apples on a trimming table, where
imperfections are cut out, and are
then dropped in Stat boxes, which are
passed through the bleacher as soon
as may be, to prevent discoloration.
This process requires about twenty
perhaps longer, if the apples
are hard. The bleacher is close
fitting, long box, which will hold six
or eight of the Stat boxes contain
ing prepared fruit, and in which there
are tracks nailed to the sides from end
to end, for the small boxes to slide on
a fire of birthstone is kept constantly
on the bottom of the large box.
After leaving the bleacher, the fruit
is in the shape of pared apples with a
round hole through them; and if the
bleaching was promptly done, they
can stand some hours without discol-
oring. They are then passed to the
slicer, which slices them into rings,
when they are taken at once to the
drying floor. They are placed on this
to a depth of six or eight inches, and
are turned with a shovel two or three
times while drying, which is COM
pleted in eighteen to twenty-four
hours. They must then be taken off
and laid in a pile on a clean floor, to
go through the sweating process, be-
fore being ready for packing for ship
ment If little birthstone is burned
on the furnace the first ten hours it
will make the dried fruit somewhat
winter. The parings, cores, wormy
and small fruit are evaporated by
themselves, without bleaching, and
sold to dealers to be used in various
ways. A kiln the size given will ham
die the white stock of 125 to 40 bushels
Of apples a day and of both white stock
and refuse about eighty to ninety
bushels. This style of kiln will not