THE FRUIT INDUSTRY.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 447, 19 February 1890, Page 4

THE FRUIT INDUSTRY.

EVAPORATING PROCESS. VISIT OF MR SPAWN. “What shall we’ do with our surplus fruit ?” has of late years been one of the most difficult problems that bas arisen like an insuperable barrier before the eyes of the Auckland orchardists. Our difficulty appears to have been Mr A. F. Spawn’s opportunity, and he has taken advantage of the demand for an economical fruit preserver to introduce what is well known throughout America and Australia as “The Climax Evaporator.” Mr A. F. Spawn, the patentee of this procese, is an American by birth, but lie brought out his patent in the first instance in Melbourne, the Climax Evaporating Company being the outcome. The patent has been in use throughout Australia sufficiently long to have proved its value, and the reports received from various quarters appear to be of the most encouraging character. The Climax evaporator is built to any size and will dry from ten to sixty bushels of apples or peaches per day. Fruit and tables are equally.welljtreated by this process, and with the unlimited supply of both that we possess in Auckland, with hundreds of tons ot different varieties going to waste every season, it would seem that here, ifanywhere, the Climax evaporator should find a congenial centre of operations. In conversation with a Star representative this forenoon, Mr Spawn stated that he proposed to erect one of his evaporators in a public place as early as possible in order to give practical illustration of its capabilities. The evaporators are made of fourdifferent sizes, and so far as they are comparable to the evaporators in use in America, the patentee claims the Climax to be an ail - round improvement, inasmuch as by this process the fruit is not steamed at all* and consequently retains its original fr&sh* flavour. The evaporation is accomplishes! by a hot air process, as distinguished from, the; steam process used in other evaporators* and Mr Spawn also informs us that his patent can be worked by unskilled labour* so that the expenses are a small item in the calculation. To illustrate the advantages of his evaporator, he stated that five pounds of apricots would be reduced in weight to* one pound, and the dried fruit, after havingr been kept for some considerable length of time, would be restored to its original quantity, retaining its original flavour by the addition of cold water. This, as compared with the tinning of fruit ins syrup, has many advantages, bub it is chiefly preferable on account of the comparatively little space occupied by storage, and cheapness. Mr Spawn says that the entire system of preserving fruit* vegetables, etc., by the Climax is cheap* simple, and so successful that all danger of overproduction of fruit is impossible as the market for colonial evaporated fruit vegetables, etc., will be unlimited. Hehasalready visited the Southern centres of population, and has everywhere been accorded a very hearty reception. Proposals have been made to him for the adoption of his patent for Hawke's Bay and Wellington, but he is anxious that it should bo adopted by the whole colony, with the object of having one central place for the carrying on of fruit and vegetable drying on an extensive., scale. He thinks fruitgrowing and fru.isdrying should be two separate things* in. order to achieve success, financially, as; well as in the production of an article of. even and reliable quality. “ I take out the water which, is in the; fruit, ” said Mr Spawn, “ without steaming* and thus I retain the flavour. The cores and peelings of the apples I use for making cider and vinegar, and the pulp is used to. feed pigs, as also are the tops and refuse of the vegetables; so you see nothing is lost.” Since Mr Spawn started the fruitdrying industry in Australia he has induced! the formation of a fruitgrowing colony containing some twenty-eight families, and two more colonies are now starting. He. endeavoured to stimulate the growth o£ fruit, in preference to wheatgrowing* claiming that by the application of his process it would pay far better. He has also introduced some new fruits which are notably good drying sorts* and has in many other ways done much to encourage the” fruit-growing industry in Victoria. There is little doubt that New Zealand will be equally benefited by the adoption of some such process as that introduced by Mr Spawn, and all who em-. interested in the subject at this end o£ the, colony should endeavour to obtain the.fuilest possible information during Mr Spawn’s stay in this city. “ Auckland: Star,” Feb. 15.