Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1886-01-29
FARM AND PRESIDE.

FARM AND PRESIDE.
CARE OF PRESERVED FRUIT-Keep1ng
fruit or any provision depends on three
things. 1t must be sound to begin. A
speck of decay or acid change will develop
ferment in kettle of fruit. Second. the
jars or cans must be alright. The OBJ
ject of steaming the fruit is to expel the
air and arrest the change in the juice,
which would naturally proceed to ferment.
Air penetrates in finer ways than we can
discern, and needs much less than the
crevice of a hair or pins point to enter
and spoil the contents. Glass that is free
from cracks or air bubbles, well-glazed
stone-ware free from flaws, yellow-ware,
or strong, dark .earthen jars will keep the
fruit from the air, provided it is sealed
with wax. putty, or bladders soaked and
left to shrink on the mouth of the jars.
Cans with screw tops and rubber rings
are apt to have slight defects which pre-
vent perfect sealing. and cannot be de-
pended on without wax.
Third. the jars must be kept in a dry,
dark, cold place, very little above freez-
ing. A shelf in a furnace warmed cellar.
or store-room opening from bltchen, is
not the place to preserve fruit. 1t may
be put up in the best manner, and yet
spoil through keeping in the light, or
where 1t is not cool. Glass cans should
be wrapped in paper, buried in sand or
sawdust, or kept in dark closet. Packed
with plenty Of chaff, oats, dry sand or
sawdust, or dry sifted ashes. NEST pre-
serves will stand freezing weather without
injury, but each can needs at least six
inches of non-conducting material about
1t on all sides for protection. A pit on
one side of the cellar, dug below the reach
OF frost, and lined with boards. with straw
or ashes between them and its walls, will
keep preserves from heat or freezing. A
pit dug in the cellar, four feet below the
level of its floor. we'll drained and lined as
above, will prove the best place for keep
ing small quantities of preserves, enough
FOR "a single family.-Susan Pouer, IN
FSck's Magazine for December.
TOMATOES FOR THANKSGIvING.-NOt
canned either, but fresh from The vines.
and in latitude forty three degrees. I had
half dozen to-day with our Thanksgiv-
ing dinner-have had them yearly, and
one season had them as late as Christmas,
but on that occasion the tomatoes were
not much to Drag about. Possibly many
of your readers. can tell the same story,
but as I have never seen the subject allud-
ed to in the pages of the magazine" l
shall, with your permission, tell the 'how.'
AS late as possible before frost dig up
some Of the strongest vines full of green
tomatoes and hang them up by the roots
in frost-proof cellar. The fruit will
gradually ripen, and you can have few
every Sunday. They do not color SO deep
" nor taste 80 strongly as those grown in
the open air, the color being pale pink,
and the tomatoes tasting cool, sweet. aud
juicy. After this date, especially if there
is any humidity in the cellar, those that
are left on the vines begin to get soft and
pulpy and soon decay.
formerly hung them up with the roots
exposed; but this season enveloped them
in paper -four sacks, which was an i'm
provement, as being more clearly. The
foregoing is very simple experiment,
and will prolongl5he enjoyment OF fresh
garden sauce for several weeks.-R. CAL
cert, IN Vick's Magazine for January.
The CABBAGE WoRM.-The cabbage cat
erpillar has done very little injury the past
season. think it was two years ago that
Prof. S. A. Forbes. State Entomologist of
Illinois, discovered that the cabbage
worms were being destroyed in great num-
bers in the northern and eastern portions
of that State by contagious disease close
Iy allied to the t1acheYie of the silk worm.
Last August dead worms began to appear
upon the cabbages in our own garden.
The number rapidly increased until, in
the latter part of September. they might
have been counted by the hundreds. sent
samples to Prof. Forbes, who thinks they
died of the same disease which he has de-
scribed. The prospects are favorable that
we shall be relieved, in great measure,
from the damage wrought by this trouble
some pest.-E. s. Golf IN Rural Ne,c
Yorker.
THE COsT OF RAIL-FENCE BUTTER
Remember that all the butter made by
COW, no matter how good the breed, if tie
animal is sheltered by rail fence, or on
the lee side of the straw-stack. and if it
gets exercise by shivering tiptoe in the
piercing cold Twill. cost a full dollar per
pound. The question is, can any ordinary
farmer afford such costly luxury, to say
nothing of the inhuman' cruelty to the
cowY 1t would be we'll for every farmer
with unhoused stock to take time to think
this matter carefully over, and decide
whether it shall be continued-Ru Ne,u
Yorker.
OYSTERS FOR BREAKFAsT.-Ana ppe-
tizing way of serving oysters for breakfast
ia th0 following: Put two dozen medium