UTILISING THE BY-PRODUCTS.

Colonist, Volume LVII, Issue 14155, 18 April 1916, Page 2

UTILISING THE BY-PRODUCTS.

The chairman then called .upon Mr. Mazure, who said:—"ln view ot' the fact that this district is greatly dependent on its fruitgrowing it .sterns a positive crime that the waste of fruit, of which there must be an appalling amount, is not turned to some proh'table account. Ido not think growers can possibly realise to what extent the by-products of the apple can be utilised:

"Miturally the first question is 'What are the market prospect;-, of these by-products?' When I tell you that 70,000 gallons of artificially, prepared cider are sold in New Zealand you will probably realise that the genuine article opens up immense possibilities. Again, it must not be forgotten that numerous persons no doubt refuse to partake of the ariL'jcially prepared concoction, but wero the ./muine article offered in its t'tead, tiiis prejudice would, I am sure, entire~rj disappear.

"it is practically certain, then thai properly manufactured eider should prove an immense success. Cider is. of couise, the most .important by-product of the apple. Tt is wholesome, refreshing, healthy beverage, at . the san:e time possessing wonderful medicinal properties. It Is said, 'An apple a day keeps the doctor away.' Qiiite so!- And while it may be hard lines on the doctor we are not here to consider his interests to-night. The point is if the apples has such wonderful properties, why not consume it in its liquid form, by partaking such a delightful and refreshing beverage as cider ? "The process of manufacture is simple. The apples are crushed, the juice squeezed out, fermented in c^sks, clarified, bottled_and aerated, .with the result that in six months yoYi have a pleasing beverage with so "close a resemblance to champagne, that most people really prefer it to that most expensive article.

- "The next question to decide is that of cost. An up-to-date proneiiy equipped plant costing about £500 wiil deal with about 10 tons of apples per day. Any apple ran be used providing there is iio rot about it,-ant' more emphaticnllv .still, there ?nust be absolutely no co-dlin moth. For this class of anple tho grower should .get £5 per. ton* 'or approximately a shade over one halfpenny per pound. Think what this would mean to the growers in this district. I understand there are about ?000 acres in orchard this side of the Moutere Hills. Now-, if we tnke 130 tren.^ to the acre we get 260,000 tr^es. If_ they_ are not all in bearing they •will be in a few years' time. Judging from what I have seen it is on the safe side to say there will he a wr,^ of an nvern.ee of 101 boer tree. That iTi"a.ns 2.600.000 pounds of apples Waster! in the year, while if they were turnPrl into cider they would return to tbp growers between' £.5000 and £6000. Add the other portions of the district not mentioned mid you will get some idea of tho annual loss, not only tn the crowers-individually, but to the. :country as a whole, while at the present time it must be voir.emberrd thi[.- we

nre at wm-. f>ncl the Imperial Government is endeavouring to awaken th° rintion to economy on the one hand ■■v\] the saving of wastage on tho of her. 'What are growers don";: to ps~ist the nution from this -standno'lnt?

"To rpbini to the cider plait. Th» si/o mentioned would produce «t, l^nst l?o qoHons of cider per ton of fruit, which if sold at 2s frl per gallon as still oirtor—tl-i.at is, in hulk without :iP''ntion —would pi-oducfi £15 12k 6d per ton. The cost of manufacture can he estimated at. Is per gallon, to which must be added the price of the fruit. Take

it as follows:— -A case of 401b costs, say, 2s. It produces approximately 2-i gallons which is equivalent to 5s Bd. The cost of manufacture is 2s 3d, thus leaving you a margin of Is s'] per case. If the qompany manufacturing the cider is co-operative, it means that this extra profit goes back to the shareholder as a bonus, thus the grower gets 2s per case in the first place and Is 5d as above mentioned, making 3s 5d for reject fruit. "Now, another by-product is, in my opinion, a very important one, and that is the. manufacture of vine-, gar. The cider plant is suitable for this purpose with the exception thot, specially prepared casks must be used. These particular casks have to be bored to alloAv of a free passage of air over the surface of the liquid.which is to be acetified. Vine.gar costs, approximately dd to Is per gallon to produce, and a low estimate of its selling price is 1 s 6d to Is lOd, for ti good sound' article. There would, I am sure, be a good market for this product, for at the present time there is consumed a large quantity-of vinegar composed of acetic acid and water, coloured artificially. "Another important branch of industry is the manufacture of uirfermented and non-intoxicating cider. This drink would appeal to the tef total portion of the population and would be very.popular amongst the purveyors of soft drinks. The only addition to the cider nlant already mentioned is ft pasteuriser which would cost about £100. / .

"The next by-product of equal importance is the' process of drying by evaporation. Sun-dried apples from California and Australia are invariably discoloured. An apple to be perfect in colour must bo dried quickly, also helped by dipping slices into sail and water, besides using a solution of potassium-bi-sulphite to preserve its whiteness. Sulphuring is good hut takes too long, and for that reason I do not recommend it. One case or apples will produce from 6 to 101b of dryings which, if first grade, will sell for a minimum price of 6d per Ib. in this country. A plant consisting of either an elevator wire tray evaporator or a largo clay, and straw kiln would cost approximately £400, including peelers, corers find slicers. Do not forget -that the cores and peels &m be used for cider • making or if preferable can lie turned into apple jelly, a delectable by-product of the fruit. Personally, 1 prefer the clay kiln wit.i an underground furnace at either end over which is placed a power driven fan to pass the hot dry. air right through the chamber. In a . well conducted, well regulated, as far as temperature is concerned, kiln, rings should dry in six to seven hours, without scorching or over-drying the fruit.

"Having mentioned the various byproducts of the fruit 1 should like to give my opinion as to the best r.'eans of giving effect to lr.y suggestions. I do not believe it would pay any gioweito install a plant-for his own.use, that is from a commercial point of view, but where there are sp many growers ( am firmly convinced a co-operative company is the proper scheme to adopt: To make a big scheme a success you must co-operate, and to make.this apple, industry, with all its attendant bynroducts, a success, it must be on a big scale. Therefore there is only one thing for the growers, in my opinion. | to do, and that is to form some such company as I have described, always remembering that.it is a case of many helping the one where the one carnot help the many." In reply to questions, Mr. Mfizure said that about-;? six men won id he necessary for the cider factory, two more could do the dryinrr, two more could do the pulping, and ono mn;i making the cider could make the vinegar. . - ■ : . ■.-•.... Mr Allport snid that if a, plant would cost only .£SOO. and, say, '3s' per b -«hpl could he obtained for fruit straight; from the orchard it appeared a good proposition'l in itself, and it had the additional advantage of preventing' second srade fruit going into the nmv. ket. They all knew that they had to mit second grade fruit on the market because they had no other means of disposing of it. Mr. Mazure . said that' £500 covered the cider making plant only, a Pasteuriser and kiln would be e,xtra. It would tak;> a month to put in a cider plant if the building was ready. Mr. Mazure added that ;i va.:uaMe fodder product was provided oy the pressings from the cider press. Mr. Gilbert m.ade a strong plea for the proposed company, saying that what was wanted was for the growers to do something for themselves. As to the glut, there was no glut, exce,;i of rubbish. Now Zealand was crying out for first. class . fruit. There was ;».n order now in for a thousand case:; of first class fruit, and it could nor. be .supplied, yet there was a funk an.on^ some growers. What was wanted wap loyalty and enterprise. He eoulil not ■ret the fruit, first quality, to fiil ciders J that he had. He appealed to the Stoke growers to come into the company, the success of which was aheady j assured. ■ s Mr. Mazure gave further details in reply to questions, after which Mr. Gilbert moved thot a hearly vot^ of thanks he accorded Messrs. Hil! and Mfzure for their instructive and ii.tere.sting. addresses. The information given should..go a long way to cFminntinor the funk which existed in some quarters. The motion wns seconded by Nv. Agmen S"<:ul- -■■'• ■ r-nve credit to theAgriculture' D^- artment for sp",nt;irieous assistance. {incT sup]K)rtod by Mr. Bolfc. who nointed out'that if tlu- "Ne)-son-Stoke Fruitgrower?; Ltd. did not nuitfM'irlise the growei's individually would have to meet the oanositior o f the two Mowtere companies iusteod of fo-onerating with them on an equal basis. The motion ""as onvriorl ''""i-t'- o^oi'iiiiation, and acknowledged l;.«r Mr. H.HI. A vote of thanks to the chair'nar' brouo-lit, the meeting to a close just t.iPO'T^-ftipven o'clock.