NOTES ON THE SUCROSE CONTENT AND DEXTROSE-LEVULOSE RATIO OF CALIFORNIA DRIED PRUNES

The quality of dried prunes in California is to some extent related to the districts in which the fruit has grown. The principal variety grown in all sections is the French prune d'Agen. The four principal prunegrowing districts are the Santa Clara and the Napa-Sonoma which are often designated as "inside" districts, and the Sacramento and the San Joaquin valleys which are often called "outside" districts in the prune trade. The inside districts are near the coast where the temperatures are lower. Less irrigation is necessary or customary in the coastal or inside districts, it is more common to use short pruning methods, and the crops average smaller. In the inside districts the fruit normally falls to the ground when in best condition for drying, while for some undetermined reason the fruit in the outside districts in large measure remains on the tree until deterioration is marked unless shaken or knocked to the ground.