The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1854-08-26

AS some, who are Indifferent to measures
for saving the Union, may yet feel an int.
rest in the preservation of fruits, we will let
the public know what Mcssrs. Mapes, Scion
Robinson, and Pardee thought and said upon
that subject at one of the useful meetings of
the American Institute Farmers should not
only handle their winter apples as gingerly
as they do hot potatoes or cold eggs, but
should sweat bef.re aiding them up in bar
Yes. Burying fruit in ashes, charcoal, or
cotton, is not the thing; the good favor is
extracted together with the moisture Ear
then pots, unless tie glazing is We perfect,
will absorb the peculiar odor of the fruit.
None but the best double refined sugar, from
which the gum, that causes fermentation
and decay, is extracted, should be used in
the process of preserving fruit Fruits are
generally destroyed by moisture, while
goosebcrries and cranberries may be kept a
long while in pure water. In making cur
rant and other .jellies, boiling is an error
The syrup should be heated to simmer only,
then |, u ed up, the sugar, till it is all dis.
solved.
Fruit may be dried in chimney, say 80
feet in height, equipped at its lower end with
drawers and cloth of atticed bottoms for the
reception Of the substance TO be dried, whc-
ther fruit or corn. A small fire is built at
the bottom, and the moisture of articles is
expelled through the chimney. A fan-blow-
or may be added to increase the strength of
the current.
They have coarse, and careless way of
drying peaches at the West In the first
place, the fruit is taken unrlpe and stoned
Unripe fruit is frequently preferred, on &C.
count Of whiteness, They are then put into
arough sort Of kiln. and there smoked and
befoulcd, and burnt; then these acrd,
tough, and bitter strips of Singcd leather ar
taken away, and packed up for the New
York and Newark markets. Arrived in
these cities, the good housewives seize upon
them as choice condiments, simmer the
burnt sole-leatner five minutes in a pot,
when, after sprinking the mass with sugar,
it is considered ready for the tca-tablc All
this is astupendous mistake from beginning
70 the end, but the greatest mistake of all is,
that anybody should be hired to cat it.
Dried peaches that good ones were
oftcncr prepared !--should be gently stcwed
twelve hours. 1t would be a blessing to the
nation, could it be prevailed on to eat more
fruit. Such is the desire of many a we'll
wishcr to his race-but don't you perceive,
friend, that fruit worth eating must be grown
first, in such abundance as to bring it within
the financial reach of the peopley Would
you have them devour, for example, such
dried and preserved peaches as have been
just described? Or would YOU have n man in
summer or in autumn, pay down for the or.
binary consumption of himself and family
one dollar a half peck Containing three
quarts, perhapsD for pears, md proporto
nal price for other fruit of sufficient excel.
hence, to recommend it for the tableg This
cannot be expected. So that unless enor.
nous prites shall be paid; the crabs and
runts of nature abandoned entirely to her
self, must be corrected and improved by a
very expressive addition of Stewards best.