The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1884-08-29
Preservation Of FRUITS.

The first picking of apples is usually
the best, and ought to be laid aside fol
winter use. The second gathering
for apples are rarely twice hand picked
should be sorted out, the least injur
cd 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 ap.
pies that look least likely to keep. A.
we are anxious to relieve the over
tasked housewife, we strongly impress
on all persons that they should secure
large proportion Of their fruit safe
for winter consumption, and that in a
state of nature, without giving then
wives the trouble of canning such large
quantities that are usually put up in
American country homes. The care
needed for apples is doubly necessary
for pears, as they are more juicy and
less liable to resist the rough handling
or an uneven temperature. When
fruits are first gathered, they, as it is
technically expressed. sweat--that is,
they exude their superabundant mois-
ture. II this moisture be carefully re-
moved twice, and the fruit neatly wrap
ped in paper, then stored in an atmos-
phere that is uniform and moderate. it
will keep with case far into the next
year. 1t is also necessary from week
to week to enter the fruit which
should not be allowed to become damp
on any account, as damp speedily de-
stroys vegetable matter-and look
over the rows of fruit. This can be
done by taking up pear or apple here
and there at regular intervals and ex-
amining its state, and then replacing it
if all found safe, rejecting it if 1t is
found unsound.
In harvesting small fruit, care must
be had to collect them in dry weather I;
otherwise, they will require more sugar
and more time in preserving, and like
wise be less certain to keep well. Still
fruit-that is, apples, pears, peaches,
nectarines, and such likc--bear 10 be
preserved when only slightly pinked.
Ounces ought to be canned or made
into consistent preserves about one
month after having been harvested.
The saccharlne matter in the fruit is
set by that time.
The harvesting Of nuts is small
matter, yet annually bushels of nuts
are lost by storing them in damp con-
dition in frozen cellars or over heated
closets. In the nutting season, ilnme-
diately after the slight frosts, all nuts
should be gathered, the husks remov-
ed and the nuts allowed to remain ex-
posed TO the open air, but under shell
ter from rains or severe frosts. 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 we'll 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
artiicially heated, and artificial heat is
expensive, and dampness is strongly
antagonistic to safe keeping of any veg
etable 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 -mouthed
stoneware jars, laying dry, putting
fresh hard wood sawdust between them
so thickly as to fill up all interstlcies +;
then to place the jars in a cool and
even atmosphere, excluding all light
This method is more laborious but bet
ter than the practice of the Italians and
French, which merely consists of hang
ing the grapes in a dark room subject
a to slight current of heated air., Thus
the grapes are partially dried, and
though sweetened by tine process, lose
their freshness and part of their fine
flavor.
In the British Isles, where only hot
house grapes car be brought to matu-
rity, the clusters are retained on the
vines for 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 rosin and sealing
wax, and then suspending them in a
cool, dry and dark atmosphere.
Tomatoes will keep fresh and sound
for months, if carefully picked from
the vines before quite ripe, alJo wed to
sweat twice, then wiped dry, and stored
as apples should be they need not be
wrapped in paper. Lemons and oranges
require, however, to be wrapped in
thin tissue paper. Bananas will remain
fresh for long time if only allowed to
hang to their stem in slight current
of cool air. We have avoided suggest
ing the use of the thermometer, as we
know full we'll that few country farm
homes possess such instruments, and,
indeed, when artificial means are not
at hand to afford heat or to produce it,
a thermometer is of no practical use.
Weat we advocate is the storing of
fruits in commodious, cool, and we'll
ventilated garret stores, rather than the
budding of them pellmell into damp
underground cellars. Any man or wo.
man accustomed to live much in open
air is to himself or herself certain
thermometer, their sense of heat and
cold being more acute than that oil
those living in-doors.-Cor. to Tribune
G Farmer.