Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1912-10-04
(By Cedarquill)

| ~ TANDING on the Southern Pa
- 'cifc right of way, south of the
station building, on a tract of
/ land which has been leased for long
| term of years, is one of the most i'm
| portant industries that has been es-
| tablished in Dallas for many years.
Reference is made to the big plant
o. the j. K. Armsby company, prune
packers, of San Francisco, which is
| complete and ready for business. The
building is an imposing one, two and
one-half stories in height and of lib
eral ground dimensions. 1t has been
| built substantially, on concrete foCn-
! dations, and is declared to be a
| trst-class structure throughout. 1t
! is fitted with every convenience
known to modern fruit handling
methods, in fact is declared to be one
of the best equipped and up-to date
plants of the kind in exiscerct
In spite of the fact that Dallas is
LoDLla1ly kr own as the ''prunr cen
ter ,f oregon" this or ,p having long
been a staple here, very few people
are aware of the method used in
preparing the fruit for market All
know what dried prune looks like,
and how they are prepared but, as
they have always been sold to out
side firms which did the packing To-
cal people have had no opportunity
to learn further of the fruit. after
it leaves the dryer,
Journey Through the Plant.
For the purpose. therefore, of MAX
ing ourselves familiar with the treat
ment of this great Polk county pro-
duct in its preparation for the table,
let us take jaunt through the big
Armsby packing plant. We will find
Mr.. A. c. Petersen resident manager
of the concern a fine fellow to meet
and he will take pains to show us
through the bright new institution.
Prunes, as they come from the
grower in sacks, are received at the
East door on the first floor. Here
they are weighed and wheeled to the
southern end of the building where
they are dumped on the floor, each
mans stock being kept seperate. The
next step is the elevator to the grad
er on the third floor. Prunes which
have been purchased at other places,
and which come to the plant in car
loads, are unloaded at the west door
where they are also weighed and con-
veyed direct to the grader elevator.
They are thus elevated to the top of
the building where they are discharg-
ed into the grader. This is an inge-
nious device consisting of a number
of screens or sieves communicating
with as many bins. There are eight
of these screens containing holes of
different Sizes the first two elimin-
ating the leaves and all dirt, while |
the other six separate the different
sized prunes as the fruit is shaken
along over their. surfaces.
Prune Sizes.
The sizes are known as 30 to 40, |
40 to so. so to 60, GO to 20. 20 to |
so, 80 to 80, 80 to 100 and 100 and
over The Italian prunes generally
grade from 40 to so and so to 60, |
while the petites run in the smaller .
sizes and grade around 80 to 80 and |
80 to 100. In every instance the fig
ures refer to the number of prunes
in a pound. From the grader the
fruit is deposited in bins, each size
having a bin of its own. and here
the fruit remains until packed Pro-
cessing is never done until they are
packed. When the prunes are taken
from the grader they are weighed.
each size separately and record kept
Of the sizes.
From the storing bins the fruit is
to the professor elevator
where it is sent to the machine that
prepares il for packing. or proc
esses" in other words. These ma
chimes are on the upper floor and
consist of two long cylinders mount
"a on machinery by which they slow
Iy revolve. Inside these professors
are wooden coils and a perforated
steam pipe through which jets of
steam strike the fruit. practically
cooking il. and. at the same time. the
revolving motion Of the cylinders in
sures that every prune receives its
share Of the steam. 1t usually re-
luires from one and one-half TO three
and one-haif minutes for the prunes
10 pass through the professors. about
Two and one-half minutes being the
average time. At the lower end.
where the prunes leave the cylinders.
hey are washed in a constant stream
lf boiling water and thence they are
,arried on sort OF sieve shaker
which eliminates all foreign substan-
,es that still may cling TO them.
From the shaker they drop into a
hopper and are carried down into
he packing hopper on the second
loor. ID
Packing Interesting.
The packing of prunes is an inter
sting proceeding. In the packing I
-oom are a number Of girl whose
iuty it Is to place the -facers~ On
sach box This work o. done by
land. In the bottom % a box which