The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1889-06-04
THE r OF
BY MARY W. EARLY.

Amongst all the modern inventions
tending to increase human health and
comfort, L doubt if there is any emit
tied to take precedence owe canning,
an art which enables us to have in al
most their prestine freshness and per-
lection the fruits and vegetables of
summer and the early autumn, and
the bleak seasons of winter and early
spring. This invention is especially
a blessing to the average country
house-keeper, in an isolated neighbor-
hood, prevented both by her location
and the slenderness of her means from
marketing, or buying fancy groceries
(such as macaroni, prunes, etc. to sup
ply the Deficiencies of her table at
bare seasons of the year. If she will but
master the art of canning, she may set
her household down to almost as pal
atable. a table in winter as in sum
mer, never reducing them to the
dreary winter dinners of old-fashion-
ed county life, dried beans, dried ap-
pies and hominy.
There are three essential points in
canning. First, fruit or vegetables
must be boiling hot when put up; Sec
ondly, the vessel must be filed to the
very brim, leaving no interval for the
air; thirdly, the vessel must be sealed
up perfectly alright. If you fulfill
all these conditions, the canned article
will be sure to keep.
We often hear the question debated
amongst the house-keepers as to
whether it is best to use glass or tin
for canning. I would advise a house
keeper to compromise by using some
of both, though for my WI part, [
succeeded better with tin. Glass,
however, has some advantages over
tin, but it requires more carefulhand-
ling and more careful protection from
both heat and cold. The action of
sunlight on glass jars has a tendency
to make the fruit or vegetable In them
ferment. You ought, therefore, to
keep your jars in a cool, dark place in
summer and the early autumn, remov-
ing them to a warmer place in winter,
or putting an oil stove in the closet
with them, in very cold weather, as
freezing destroys both the glass jars
and their contents. A nice way to
can fruit in jars is to put the fruit in
the jars a soon as you have peeled it,
adding a little water. Then put sew
eral jars in large baking pan or dish
pan on top of the stove, partly filed
with cold water, and leave the jars in
this vessel till the fruit. gradually
comes to a boil, the vessel slowly get
ting hot at the same time, and Of
course the fruit will shrink as it gets
hot and require to be replenished, SO
you will have to use the fruit out of
one jar to fill up the others. When
it has reached the boiling point, screw
up the jars, first filling them to the
very brim, and for three days following
repeat the screwing of the tops, rs you
can never screw them really tight the
first time. If there is no sign of fer
'mentation On the fourth day, you may
feel pretty sure of it's keeping. If
lyou cannot command a dark place for
Iyour glass jars, tie layers of brown
| paper around them to keep out the
sunlight. Nothing is more conven-'
lent than canned fruit to a country
housekeeper when unexpected visitors
arrive just before dinner. This will
relieve her of all trouble and perplex-
ity about the dessert, as it will enable