Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1886-10-06
WORK FOR WOMEN.
An Easy Way of Earning a Little
Spending Money.

1.-The tide of popular taste or eapIlce
appears to be setting in again in favor
| OF dried fruit instead of the exclusively
canned or preserved article remarked
a dealer of fine goods of this sort.
''The knowledge of the proper meth
o,is of drying fruit has become almost
| ,psr in this country since self-sealing
| cans were invented. Good dried fruit,
however. is far better than poor canned
irait. The manner of preserving it in
this way fell into disuse because it was
done in careless and improper way.
IL was dried so slowly that it became
| tough and required hours of soaking
before it was fit to cook. In this man.
ner it was well-nigh robbed of Its flavor
and then reduced TO utter insipidity by
long stewing.
at is necessary to use well-ripened
fruit for drying. The inferior fruit can
C. canned or preserved and be rendered
palatable. \ well-dried peach is far
] superior to common canned one.
They should be cut in halves and laid,
cut side up, on cheese-cloth, without
putting one piece on top of another, in
some sunny place out of doors.
"a wooden frame similar to those
used in dairies for milk is a good thing
for drying fruit. The cheese-cl1th can
| 70 ..ung in it by hooks on nails at the
| sides. Clean, white mosquito netting
! should be laid over the fruit, and ii
| should be carried into the house at
right to prevent its acquiring dalnpneSs.
SIN those countries from which We
import the choicest dried fruits even the
ground and rocks are so covered with
drying fruit that it is difficult to move
without stepping on it. AS for the
roofs they are ompletely hidden with it.
mo other evapOratOrs but the sun
and air should be used for fine fruit.
No wormy fruit should ever be dried,
ior one piece will spoil many pounds.
1.-The only good way to dry apples is
10 peel, core and quarter them or cut
them into eighths. The old-fashiOned
way of stringing item is good. They
Should be dried in the open air. They
| can be hung, if put on strings on the
boughs of the trees where they grow.
If not strung they should be spread like
| Peaches on cheeSe cloln.
'Plums are decidedly the best when
dried with the stones in and stems on.
| When the stones are removed the cut
sides should be filled with sugar, and
when they are half dry they should be
pressed for two or three hours will
.lateS and weight to flatten them.
"Common fruit may be put in bags
and kept in some cool, dry place.
Choicer fruit should be put into we'll
seasoned pine boxes in layers, with thin
MANILA paper between them. Care
| should be taken that the boxes h1ve nc
resinous smell, as the fruit will be i'm
p.egnated with it.
| t'Fancy fruits for dessert should bt
IVA up in the foreign style i'll tin eases
,hite-wood boxes, with fine white
Y :, sTyy- .ssswnegs The li.ysiS and Gil top
rNot more than one or two pounds
should be put in box.
Il don't see why there is not great
field for woman who wish to earn theil
living In canning, preserving and dry
ing fruit. If they would pattern aftel
the way in which the finest goods in the
market are put up, and make thell
prices to correspond, there would oe lie"
merchants who would object to handling
homemade preserved and dried fruit.
| The trouble is not that women can't
| learn to preserve or dry fruit such rs the
market demands, but that they, as
rule, do not understand the merest de
tails of doing business.
| ''Private customers as a rule would
pay better than the trade custom, but
there is no reason why the American
market couldn't be largely supplied
with home prepared fruits. If the
thousands of women all over the land
who want something to do III their own
homes whereby they can earn money
would turn their attention to this OF
| kindred work, eminently feminine, they
would ben fit themselves and better
goods would be obtained.
ssOther food besides fruit could be
better prepared for the market under
| the direction of women than men, even
in factories. The very best catsup OBJ
tainable, for instance, is put up i'll a
| factory owned by woman. She began
by supplying private customers. Hel
| catsup commands the highest price OF
any in the market.
Zone enterprising lady that | knew
| of who was thrown rather suddenly on
her own resources with two little child
ren to care for, prepared quantity OF
| preserves. canned and dried fruit, jellleS
and pickels, hired a light wagon and
drove around every day from house tC
| house till she sold her goods. The next
season she had rs many orders as she
! could fill.
''By the way, saw marmalade, ol
preserve, down in the southern part OF
| this State that was not only novelty
but good. 1t was made by little wo-
man who is sane on all other subjects but
| literally demented in the matter of pre-
| served fruits. She has cellar made
| like an old-time ''spring- house cellar, y
| detached from the house for her pre-
serves. | was guest at her table one
night last spring. You'll be astonished
| when | tell YOU that the different kind:
of AIMED and preserved fruit she served
on that occasion by actual count mum
bered seventeen. Among them wa;
this marmalade. 1t was prepared from
| the wild grape, which the average
hoasekeeper long ago despaired of con
verting into an edible conserve.
The little woman told me that she
took them while green before the seed:
hardened, scalded them for two or three
minutes to soften them, and then rub.
bed them through sieve 20 free then
from the stems and seeds. She allowed
q pound of sugar to each pound of the
pulp; and let the sugar boil into thick
sirup before putting in the grape pulp,
1t was really good preserve
ssI'ye learned since that the New En-
gland wild grapes, which is larger than
! ours, is prepared in a somewhat similar
| manner.
There's very few kinds of fruit thai
women couldn't turn into salable artl
cIes if they went about it right,