The St. Johns herald., 1897-11-06
FARM AND ORCHARD Some Interesting News for the
 RuraliSt
SPOKEN OF IN THIS COLUMN.
Few Sensible Hints to Suit the Busy Agriculturist.-Item That May
 Benefit Our Readers.
Bleaching Dried Fruit.

A week or two since we expressed oul l opinion of the practice of sulphurino
 dried fruits and nuts and commended
 our Southern walnut growers for an
 effort which they are making to eman-
 cipate themselves from the expensive
 and injurious habit. They have, how ever, run against the precise snag which
 we predicted they would find. The
 trade will have none of it. They de-
 mand the noxieus goods which they
 have been accustomed to receive. and
 they require them because their custo-
 mers prefer them. Personally they care nothing about it either way, but what
 they want is what will sell, and that
 will sell best which looks best. It is the ignorant demand of those who buy to eat that makes the trade demand what is bad for anyone to eat. The fault is in the consumers themselves. As for joining in any aJIe14p; % educate con usIners the trade emphatically declines. To educate consumers costs money. and the trade will not spend a nickel for that purpose. It IS cheaper to sell what is asked for, and profit is the object of trade, not the lengthening of human life. So the trade will continue to buy sulphured goods in preference to others.
 A year ago the Fruitman's Guide of
 New York attacked the practice of sul
 phuring and urged Californians to put up their dried fruit in it's natural color. In response we offered to assure the Guide a good commission upon any orders for unsulphured fruit it could procure, and the thanks of the produc- CTS besides, but at the same time stat ing that they could not get an order for a single pound at even prices. Doubt less the Guide never tried, but they could have got no such orders, nor will the trade do anything to promote senti- ment against sul ulphuring unless they are paid for it. The cheapest way the walnut growers can take to get rid of sulphuring Is to refuse to sulphur and then put their entire product in the hands of two or three strong houses at an extra discount of about per cent to pay for the extra cost of selling. Ii they will do that for one or two years they can make it. Otherwise they won't. It costs money to promote re- form. There is a possibility that by enlisting the boards of health the re- form can be effected at public expense. Whether they can be enlitsed depends on the seriousness of the evil. We really do not think it very serious, or that the boards of health will take it up. We must not be understood as believing that sulphuring fruit is especially harmful to the consumers. It is simply ridic- ulous and expensive process, injurious to the flavor of the fruit, which ought to be abolished. Ii is also stated that in the Gas. of cr oesslye =-r'-hu~i~~ =roL as the very common practice ol leaving the trays in the sulphur box over night, a certain amount of sulphuric acid IS formed, sufficient to create an irritation in delicate stomachs. We do not know how much there Is in this. We are samples of plums which we know to have been sulphured at least four hours to the University for analy- sis. When we get the returns we shall at least know about that lot.-San Francisco Chronicle.