The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1876-08-21
THE FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.
Putting ND Fruits and Vegetables.

Putting up Fruits and Vegetables.
Many good housekeepers are deferred from
undertaking the very common practice of put
ting up for winter use the fruit and berries of
summer, as they suppose it to be difficult
and expensive operation. This impression
derives its origin, or at least additional con-
firmation, from the industrious efforts of the
manufacturers and sellers of every new kind
of can or jar, to convince the public that GER
tain failure will follow from the use of any
other invention Agricultural writers also are
rather apt to overload the subject with pom
derous suggestions, and to mislead their
readers by leaving upon their minds the i'm
preston that experienced persons and skilled
workmen only are competent for the bust
ness.
We do not doubt that some of those manu-.
featured articles are well suited for this object
and we are well aware that skill and expert
ence are always valuable, and yet here we do
not regard them as indispensable requisites.
Nor do we think that the good housewife
should add to her average burdens, by devot-
ing day or two out of the busy week to this
specialty-in other words, by making job of
it-as she does of washing, soap-making or
housekeeping. The simpler methods we
Recommend are. to use the common junk
bottles found in every house or shop; and to
do SO day by day, as occasion offers. OF
course, the larger the neck of the bottle, the
easier the entrance for its contents, al
though with the ordinary size no trouble is
found in bottling up berries, tomatoes and
the smaller fruits and vegetables. When the
bottle is filled and the air excluded, the cork
should be driven in and covered with some
adhesive wax or cement. By using these
bottles there is no contact with an, metal OF
substance aud therefore they are far superior
to the common cans or jars, which are
most of them open to this objection. When
ever these are used and the air is not en-
tirely expelled, or it succeeds in finding adj
mission, evil results will follow; for as Prof.
Doremus recently informs US, ''Many of
these canned articles contain acids which
would attack the metals, especially the solder.
If the oxygen of the air was present." So far
therefore as safety, simplicity and economy
are concerned the advantages lie almost en-
tirely upon the side of the cheap and, in
many cases, unused bottles, rather than the
more expensive and complicated articles
offered by the trade.
Our suggestions are intended entirely for
the benefit of families, and not designed to
propose substitutes for the articles or proc
esses now used in packing establishments.
In almost every household during the sum-
mer months the vegetable garden is found to
be the chief reliance, and from it large sup
plies for the table are drawn. 1t necessarily
follows that cooked food of this kind remain
ing unconsumed is frequently lost, on account
Of the excessive heat. Everything suitable
for future consumption that one would wish
to preserve may be bottled up each day and
thus saved for winter use. We can hardly
conceive of more convenient and economi-
cal way of utilizing otherwise waste material
and of laying up winter stores. We know
that some good housekeepers have practised
1t successfully for several years, and we trust
that many others will make trial of it this
season.