Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1918-06-20
Your War Garden

Just at this time when home grown
fruits are beginning to come into the
market an interesting new method OF
preserving certain kinds Of them in a
raw state has recently been tried out
by experiments and has been found TO
be thoroughly practicable and success
full. The method is described in a re-
cent issue Of The Garden Magazine.
reliable and authoritative publication,
and for that reason can be trusted.
Some objection can justly be found 10
the method for the reason that at
tempted on a small scale the labor and
care required may Offset the result
obtained.
The article describing the method
follows.
"This season all garden produce Is
of especial value. In many ways 1t IS
possible to preserve fruits and
vegetables, but in most cases this en-
tails a certain amount of cooking.
After some prolonged experiments a
French scientist has given to the
world a plan by mons of which many
kinds Of fruits and vegetables Can ne
kept for lengthy period in raw
state. The method Is so simple that
good many people will like to try 1t. In
the first place, it is needful to secure
quantity Of fine dry sand. 1t Is wen
to sterilize this by baking it in an oven
for few hours. BY spreading the sand
out on big dishes and placing these IN
the oven it is easy to sterilize con-
siderable quantity of sand at time.
Now get some wooden boxes; these
might be Of any convenient size, altho
they should not be less than five or slN
inches in depth. The next step is TO
collect the fruits and vegetables. Inc
very soft fruits such as raspberrles,
Strawberries, currants, etc, are not
suitable. In the experiments good re-
suits were secured with plums peaches,
tomatoes, and such vegetables as
cucumbers, marrows, and even peas
and beans. 1T is very important that
all the specimens should be quite dry
externally, and that they should be
without any blemish. In the case or
fruit It is we'll that this should not be
quite ripe; certainly there must be no
sign Of splitting open. Take each fruit
and vegetable and wrap 1t closely IN
tissue paper, twisting the ends together
at the top. Now spread layer of SAND
in one of the boxes; this should be
about two inches deep. Then place out
the fruits or vegetables allowing two
inches between each. Finally the SAND
IS packed in all over the fruits, the
most important thing being to see that
there is good two inches or the
material round each specimen. IT un-
disturbed, sand-packed fruits and
vegetables will keep fresh and OF sood
flavor for many months.
If you are growing pumpkins, sqash
or similar vegetables and are ambitious
to beat all the neighbors for the size
of your vegetables, the following is
novel and interesting way, also
thoroughly practical way to do it. 1t
is to feed these vegetables with water.
This is accomplished by using pieces
Of round lamp wick. A hole is made IN
the stalk Of each vegetable, close up
to It, and into the hole insert one enc
Of the wick Place the other end Of the
wick in jar Of water and keep the
jar we'll filed. Pumpkins and squash
will suck up the water rapidly and
will grow at about twice their normal
rate, maturing sooner and much
larger in size. The plan Is especially
adaptable for small gardens where
only a few squash can be grown and
| where the maximum production Is de-
sired from limited plot Of ground.
TRY H.