Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1871-12-11
NO. 292.
Misfellaaeuns.
THE WINTER CARE OF FRUITS.

As there is no kind of country produce
more perishable and more palatable,
more wholesome, and also more reck-
lessly harvested than our home fruits,
it becomes an editorial duty to say word
or two to our American farmers and to
our American housewives. In the first
place, no subsequent care can keep fruits
that are once injured; therefore, all the
good housewives cares are useless. if the
fruits are not brought to her in good shape
and in perfect preservation. The slight
est bruse is the certain forerunner of
speedy decay: Therefore, to avoid loss,
great caution is necessary in the harvest
ing of fruits Those destined for keeping
purposes should be hand-picked, whether
they be small fruits intended for canning.
or large ones that are needed sound far
into the coming year. In the case of ap-
Piles, it is so difficult to keep the early va
rietfes that it is not wise to attempt doing
so in anything like large quantities. The
hard. juicy apple keeps best, and these
sorts should be divided and spb-divided,
| alone retaining for longest keeping the
medium-sized fruit, as that is always the
soundest, and consequently the most last
ing. As soon as the apples are picked off
the trees they should be carried into large
| open shed orwell-ventilated garret, and al
lowed to lie for some five or seven days;
then carefully wiped one by one, with soft
linen cloth, and exposed to an open floor
or open shelves for ten or fifteen days
more. Then they should be again gently
wiped and Immediately after neatly en-
veloped in soft tissue-paper; then they
can be packed in rows. five deep and five
high, allowing open spaces for the air to
circulate betw eeRthe rows, thus admitting
of evaporation and retarding decay. The
first picking of apples is usually the best,
and ought to be laid aside for winter use.
The second gathering-for apples are rare
ly twice d-picked-should be sorted
| out, the least injured ones laid aside and
then preserved, and those most injured
used at once. When cider is made at home
the same rules hold good. Work up those
apples that look least likely to keep. AS
we are anxious to relieve the over-tasked
housewife, we strongly impress on all
persons that they should secure a large
proportion of their fruit safe for winter
consuption and that in state Of nature,
without giving their wives the trouble of
canning such large quantities as are usual
~ put up IN American country homes. The
care needed for apples is doubly necessa-
l
less liable to resist the rough-handling or
an uneven temperature. When fruits are
first gathered they, as it is technically ex-
pressed, sweat-that is, they exude their
superabundant moisture. If this moisture
be carefully removed twice, and the fruit
neatly wrapped in paper, then stored in
an atmosphere that is uniform and moder-
ate, it will keep with ease far into the next
year. 1t is also necessary from week to
week to enter the fruit-room-which
should not be allowed to become damp on
any account, as damp speedily destroys
vegetable matter-and look over the rows
of fruit. This can be done by taking upa
pear or apple here and there at regular
intervals and examining its state, then re-
placing it if all is found safe, rejecting it
if it is found unsound.
In harvesting small fruit scare must be
had to collect them in dry weather, other
wise they willrequire more sugar and more
time in preserving, and likewise be Tess
certain to keep we'll. Still fruit-that is.
apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, and
such like--bear to be preserved when on
ly slightly pinked. Ounces ought to be
canned or made into consistent preserves
about one month after having been har-
vested. The saccharine matter in the
fruit is set by that time. The harvesting
of nuts is a small matter, yet annually
bushels of nuts are lost by storing them in
damp condition in frozen cellars or in
over heated closets. In the nutting sea-
son, Immediately after the first slight
frosts, all nuts should be gathered, the
husks removed and the nuts allowed to re-
main exposed to the open air, but under
shelter from rain or severe frost. About
the first of December all nuts should be
dry enough to store they may then safely
lie three inches deep on the floor of well
ventilated garret. A cellar is the worst
possible place to store fruits in. AS every
cellar is below the surface. it is more or
less damp if not artiticially heated, and
artificial heat is expensive, and dampness
is strongly antagonistic to safe keeping of
any vegetable matter. The best manner
of keeping grapes fresh for winter use is
that method pursued in Spain, namely, to
pack the entire clusters in thick OPEN
mouthed stone-ware jars, laying dry, put
ting fresh hardwood saw dust between
them so thickly as to fill up all interstices;
then to place the jars in a cool and even
atmosphere, excluding all light. This
method is more laborious but better than
the practice of the Italians and French,
which merely consists of hanging the
grapes in dark room subject to slight
current of heated air Thus the grapes
are partially dried, and though sweetened
by the process, lose their freshness and
part of their fine flavor. In the British
Isles, where only hot-house grapes can be
brought to maturity, the clusters are re-
tanned on the vines for weeks and weeks
after they have become ripe by simply
moderating the heat of the conservatory.
also by cutting the clusters Just before they
are entirely ripe, dipping the ends of the
stalks into a mixture of hot resin and seal
ing-wax. and then suspending them in
cool, dry and dark atmosphere. Toma-
toes win keep fresh and sound for months,
if carefully picked from the vines before
quite ripe. allowed to sweat twice, then
wiped dry, and stored as apples should
be; they need not be wrapped in paper.
Lemons and oranges require, howerer. to
be wrapped in thin tissue paper. Bananas
will remain fresh for long time il only
allowed to hang on their stem in slight
current of cool air. We have avoided