Preserving Fruit by Sterilised Air.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XXVII, Issue 1372, 13 August 1895, Page 3

Preserving Fruit by Sterilised Air.

\ considerable amount of iuterest has been created-in Victoria by the puDlication, by the Agricultural De partment, of a' pamphlet on what is known in America as the Perkins process for preserving fruity by means ot sterilised air. The author of the pamphlet, Mr J. M. Sinclair, visited \ merica some months ago on behalf of the Victorian Government and the vgricultural Societies, and investigated the process; and lately received reports of a very successful trial which it had undergone. It appears that in November last a carload of ripe grapes and peaches, together with a number of bunches of cut flowers, was sent on a trial trip from San Francisco to New Orleans and: back, the whole journey covering 500G miles, arid occupying lij> days. The thermometer, ; 6n the oiirjside of the car during this time registered from 64 deg reea to 10 i degrees, and the car was opened about 30 times in the course of the trip, bht notwith-standing-all this, the fruit and flowers, wheu they were taken : out at the end of the journey, were as fresh as when they were put in, and bore not the slightest traces of having been plucked 15 days previously. . The process is described as being very simple. Attached to the locomotive is an aircompressor, in which the pressure of air reaches over 801bs to the square inch. Air compressed to such an extent becomes,heated to, such a degree that the ', germinal life it contains is destroyed. , The sterilised air is passed into a receiver, where.it is cooled and then forced into an air-tight car, in which the fruit is placed. The germladen air is in turn forced oiit of th'e car; and the fruit is carried to its destination iri perfectly pure air. Mould arid other matter of a fungous nature originates in the atmosphere' and settles upon fruit, where it spreads and sbori sets rip decompbsitiori. Where only pure air reaches the. fruit, the process of decomposition is arrested for a long time.. By Dr Perkinfs apparatus, pure* cold, air is kept in constant /circulation-, through the car, arid any impurity is forced out through a, small vent or valve in . the roof. With but little loss of power to the engine, this process is kept up during the entire journey. It is stated that the maximum cost in America of ship ment by this process—presumably for, a journey of the sarrie length as that described above —will be £5 a car, and it is thought that £4 will generally be quite sufficient, whereas shipment by refrigerator cars costs ,£4O each, i'he importance of this process to these, colonies can be recognised at once.* ft is stated that it can be applied to the chambers of ocean steamers even more readily and successfully than to railway cars, aud if this is the case and the inventor visits as he has offere4 to do, to show those interested how his discovery may be adapted to sending fruit to England, the fruit industry should become one of the most profitable branches of our export trade. -Exchange.