Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-11-28
All Around the Place,

All Around the Place.
| correspondent asks IL sweet pota-
| toes may be canned in the same man
| ner as sweet corn, string and lima
| beans, carrots, etc, by sterilizing for
| an hour or more on three successive
days, as directed by the Department of
! Agriculture. This correspondent sug-
gests the possibility of using half gall
lon Jars for canning sweet potatoes.
| While better results are to be expected
with quart jars, the larger size can be
used, though the period of sterilization
| will have to be heightened, and instead
of keeping the filled Jars in the ster-
ilizer for one hour on each of three sue
cessive days it will be necessary to steam
| them for two-hour periods on three sue
cessive days. The sweet potatoes should
be boiled sufficiently to loosen the skin,
then peeled and packed into the jars,
and the jars should then be placed in
| the sterilizing vessel, which should be
provided with false bottom, of course,
to prevent breakage. Fill the sterilizer
with water one-fourth the way up the
sides of the jars, cover tightly enough
, to keep the steam in, and boil. After
thirty-five minutes of boiling the pota-
! toes in half-gallon jars will have ex-
banded sufficiently that the jars may
be tightly sealed, after which boil the
an hour and half longer. For pint
jars the first boiling should be fifteen
minutes, and for quarts twenty-five
minutes, with corresponding decrease
in the length of time the boiling is con-
tinued after the jars are sealed. For
the following days boiling. as well as
the third day, do not loosen the covers
loo hoy ithf lN
sealed, in cold water and bring to
boil, maintaining a boiling temperature
for two hours each day. Put salt and
water, or sugar as desired, in the jar,
to cook with the potatoes. If the rub
Der pushes out, it is because the air in
the jar was not exhausted long enough
before sealing. and the contents OF the
jar continued to expand and blew out
the rubber. The jar would have burst
If it had not done that. Loosen the top
gently, push the rubber ring back with
knife. and seal the jar again
The farmer who burns wood for heat
ing and cooking should carefully store
the ashes and not permit them to leach,
as they have peculiar fertilZng
value They not only contain potash
and phosphoric acid in appreciable
amounts, but also contain masnesia
and lime. and when applied to the land
they also act indirectly to increase the
available nitrogen content of organic
matter in the soil.
Ordinary house ashes contain on the
average about or 8 per cent of pot
ash and 2 per cent of phosphoric acid.
Investigators have considered that
there is enough potash and phosphoric
acid in a bushel of ashes TO make 1t
worth 30 or 25 cents. Besides that.
some 10 or 10 cents additional might
be allowed for the "alkali power" of
the ashes. This power is that which
enables ashes to rot weeds and totferment
peat The potash content of ashes Will
be lost If they are permitted to leach,
and care should be taken to store them
In a dry place.
Ashes from hardwoods (deciduous
trees) are richer in both phosphorus
and potash than those from pines and
other softwoods tconifers). The ashes
Of twigs fagots, for example) are
worth more for agricultural purposes
than the ashes OF heartWood taken
from the middle of old tree. In
general, the smaller and younger the
wood burned the better ashes The
ashes of coal do not contain enough
potash to make them valuable in this
connection.
Wood ashes may be profita bly, applied
as a top dressing to grass land and
to pastures. where they will encourage
the growth of clover and the better
kinds of grasses, which will then
crowd out inferior kinds and weeds.
Wood ashes also may be used for corn
and roots. Because of their lime con-
tent they are not good for potatoes,
although sometimes used for this crop.
Milk pals should be of such con-
struction as to enable them to be
easily cleaned and kept bright This
is best accomplished by having the
inner surface of the pail smooth and
free from seams or crevices. which
e.
late and make it's removal difficult. The
pals should have the same smoothly
soldered and should be heavily timed
to prevent rusting. They should have
narrow or covered top to exclude as
much falling dirt as possible
BY the ripening Of cream is meant the
changes it undergoes from the time of
separation until II is added to the churn.
Upon these changes depends largely the
quality of butter as regards texture and
flavor. The temperature at which cream
is held determines the firmness or texture
while the flavor is dependent upon the by
products from the bacterial growth
The purpose of ripening cream is funda-
mentally that Of giving the butter the de-
sired flavor and aroma, but in addition
1t increases the ease and efficiency Of
churning. Cream is ripened in one of
two ways
First 1t sours or ripens as a result of
the action of bacteria which are normally
present in milk and cream or,
Second. 1t ripens as a result of action
Of certain kinds Of bacteria which are
added In what Is termed a starter
The secret Of the vitality Of the wild
onion lies in the two sorts Of underground
bulbs. Each plant produces one large
bulb which terminates in the fall and
four or five small ones which start growth
| In the spring.
Late fall blowing, followed by early
spring blowing and planting the infested
land to some clean cultivated crop, destr rows
the wild onion pest by killing both sorts OF
bulbs as the growth from them appears
and before they have had a chance to
multiply. The fall blowing should be
deep. and care should be taken to com
| pletely bury all green tops of the onion,
! If very much top growth has been made.
harrow run before the pillow will facili-
tate the thorough covering of the tops.
Another interesting and valuable point
| about the wild onion is that the spring
bulbs rarely produce heads: consequently.
| il the infested land is plowed in the fail.
q spring oat crop practically free of
onions can always be secured But for
complete eradication of the onion both
i n