Evening star., 1896-07-27
EvAPORATED FRUIT.
A Great Industry That Has Grown Up
Around Rochester.

From the Rochester Post-EIpress.
In 1871 Elan Hatch farmer living in the
town of Webster. by accident discovered
that sliced apples could be made clear.
pure white by the use Of fumes OF brim-
stone. The old way of drying apples was
to slice them and carefully distribute them
on trays. which were then hoisted to the
roofs Of outbuildings and sheds Of farm
houses or elevated from the ground on
posts being left exposed to the rays of the
sun. which. IL the day was pleasant. would
half-dry them. The result OF this method
Of drying the apples was not entirely satis-
factory. however. The apples were always
of a peculiar reddish tint and lost consider
able nourishment in the process of sun
drying.
Mr Hatch is said to have been the first
one to have put into use the plan of pre-
pairing apples by the use of fumes of brim-
stone, which dried them and left them OF
particularly white color When these dried
apples first came into the local market they
commanded price far above that of the
sun-dried variety. and were at once in de-
mand. Other growers at once took up with
the idea, and David Wing of Brighton be-
gan to deal In the produce extensively. Men
set about attempting to find the easiest and
least expensive way of preparing these APP
pies for the market and the result was the
building of many fruit evaporatng towers.
1t was found that by showing I'm sieve
laden with the sliced fruit and allowing the
fumes to pass through 1t, then hoisting that
sieve and showing in another, then hoisting
the two and showing i'm a third, and so on
until the sieve first put in had reached the
top Of the tower, the heat could be best ap-
piled and the process be best simplified.
Patents were Immediately applied for but
SO many technical improvements were made
that no one device ever came into any very
extensive use Through all these years the
original plan of the drying tower has
manned the temporary feature of the dry
ing process OF what has now grown to be
an extensive industry.
The idea of bleaching by the use of brim-
stone is not new one, instances being re-
corded OF its having been used I'm the process
OF preparing barley and malt 1000 years
back, and il was in rather extensive use in
Germany seventy-five years before IL was
put to any great use here. In 1S47 a noted
chemist Of that country read a paper, in
which he practically foreshadowed the re-
suits which have since been achieved.
The fact Of the matter is that the industry
has grown to such proportions in the United
mediate vicinity of Rochester that the
product is shipped to all parts Of the world.
Large shipments are annually made to
France, Germany and Russia.
A man who has travelled much abroad
and who has just returned to the city, TOLD
a reporter Of the Post-Express that when
he was in France he met a foreigner in
terested in the fruit-drying industry. The
foreigner learned that the traveller was
from New York state, and he at once in
Quired II he knew where Rochester was
located. The American smilingly said that
he did. WELL" said the Frenchman, "all
the people over here know a great deal I'm a
certain way about Rochester 1t must be a
great place. Do the people there do any
thing aside from drying fruit?' When he
was assured that the city was one embrace
ing great many various manufactures
and noted for other industries, he expressed
surprise. He actually believed that nothing
was done by the Inhabitants here except the
preparation of dried fruit, so well known is
the Rochester product.