THE DRY FRUIT INDUSTRY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1981, 27 October 1888, Page 2

THE DRY FRUIT INDUSTRY.

An instructive article on. this industry? as carried an m the western portion of New TJbrk State, of which Rochester is the trade centre, is published m "Bead* street's." The cultivation of fruit In tha dlstriot, it is said, has superseded »U other branches of agricultural indaitry, and has proved remunerative. Thousand* of tons of apples, of a quality previously waßted, are dried and sold every season , Within a radios of forty miles of Rochester there are over fifteen hundred evaporators, from the small farmhouse drier, with a capacity of 25 bushels a day, to the large steam-power evaporator, drying 800 to 1000 bushels m twenty-four hours. At least. 30,000 hands are said to b« employed, at 6dol to 12dol a week each, during the autumn and early winker at this industry, and new fcotorias are created every season. The production In 1887 was larger than m «ny previous season since the Industry was established, about fifteen yeo?a a>go, the quantity being estimated at 80,000,0001 b, worth at first sale &,OQO,OOO dollars. To prodaoe the quantity of dried fruit about 6,000,000 bushels of raw. apples are said to be; re* quired. It appears, then, that the pro* duoers got less than Is 8d per bushel let their apples, and not quite 3^3 per lb for the dried fruit. As freight to England Is only a little over a farthing a. pound, there must be a good margin of profit for. dealers, the " store " prloa ' being il • poqnd, But If the grower In this country oould get 5d for dried apples, it would be equivalent to only half-a-ccown a bushel for the raw fruit, and expenses would have to be deduotfld> In the United States, however, the parings and cores of the apples are used as the base of cheap fruit jellies, bo that there is something to add to the receipts for tbe dried apples. The greatest quantities of dried fruit are. exported to Germany, England,' Belgium Holland, and France. About 18,000 barrels of a quality known as chopped or sliced apples, dried without being paired or cored, were sent to France laat year, where they are nsed m the production of cider, cheap wlnee, and spirits.