Show BEST FRUnVDISYIXG 3IETHODS In a useful and timely paper on the above subject read at the late Escon dido Farmers Institute Maurice Ready said Now that the dried fruit products are assuming such large proportions any discussion of methods of curing is both timely and profitable Care must be taken to gather the fruit full ripe but not overripe and above all not green Green fruit dries to nothingdark little chips without value or weIghtyet vile enough In appearance to lower the grade and lessen the value 9f the pack Overripe Over-ripe fruit spreads out and presents an untidy appearance and while not unwholesome un-wholesome like the unripe fruit yet like the whole it it injures the selling value of I i have not seen what I consider a perfect pitting machine yet and recourse re-course must be still had to hand pitting pit-ting The fruit should be cut 1 entirely around and the pit lifted out not squeezed out nor pushed through the end Careless pitters sometimes adopt this method and injure in-jure the fruit in appearance so treated Drying grounds should be kept clean and free from dust and strips 1x3 strps laid on the ground and the trays laid I on them I have found this gives better bet-ter satisfaction than laying the trays on the ground I Proper thinning of the fruit should be done so as to produce fair sized I fruit as I consider i more profitable for drying purposes than over large ot small fruit Probably the most important item in drying is the bleaching The trade demands de-mands a bleached fruit and the producer pro-ducer must furnish it or he will soon go to the wall but he should certainly furnish it in the least objectionable form Any more sulphur than is required re-quired to properly bleach the fruit is useless and probably injurious After several experiments I con eluded that one pound of sulphur to seventy fruit trays two and a hal by three feet and holding about twenty pounds of fruit each was amply sufficient cient and I have not used more than that amount for the past four years and I leave the fruit in the sulphur box from three to four hours or until it shows signs of sweating Properly ripe fruit requires less time to bleach than overripe or green fruit Thoroughly ripe fruit sulphured in this way immediately after it is cut is not strong acid i retains its strength It looks better and I think is better than unsulphured fruit Time required for drying varies according ac-cording to the fruit and condition of the weather Apricots dry in three to four days peaches from four to six days When the fruit is about two thirds dry it should be stacked up and allowed to cure In the shade from two to three days The fruit should betaken be-taken from the trays in the middle of the day as worms are less liable to bother than when taken from the trays in the morning or evening The fruit should be put in the sweat boxes and allowed to remain for about ten days then it is ready for packing |