Weekly journal-miner., 1919-09-03
(BY SHARLOT M. HALL)

for preparing the abundance ot our | orchards and gardens for winter use, and while I have given a good many | rules for canning food the letters re ceived are full of questions not coy cred in the earlier articles. Especial ] ly there have been many inquiries | about drying and salting foods and . both of these ways are valuable as additional saving methods or for l variety in food stores. The rules here given have been followed for many 1 years with success. The storing of dried foodstuffs is as important as the first curing and if this is care fully done dried fruit, corn, beans, and other vegetables can be kept for | years without spelling. Dried corn was one of the old-time delicacies and in spite of the excellence of recent ! canning methods it IS worth while to dry some corn each summer. The later crop of corn is just right for use and we find it freer from corn worms than the earlier crop.
 To Dry Corn.
 Choose corn just at good roasting ears; husk and silk and cut away any worm-eaten grains. Have a large kettle of water at boiling heat and salted. Drop in the corn and boil for five minutes; take out and drop into cold water for minute, remove and drain and cut from the cob with a very sharp thin-bladed knife Do not cut deeply enough to take the hard portion next the cob nor thinly enough to need to scrape the grains as the scraped corn dries i'll hard Jumps and does not cook well.
 The cut corn may be spread on clean sheets or large papers laid on boards in a sunny place, on a low, flat roof, or even dried in pans in a slow oven. Drying frames may be made with boards and screen almost like screen doors, or old doors may bo used if handy. If much fruit and vegetables are to be dried 1t is handy to have a set of frames made on pur pose but 1 have dried hundreds of pounds on the flat roof of a porch with perfect success. It IS well to provide a bolt of mosquito netting to cover the corn or fruit if flies are bad but this flinders the quick drying a little 1 have never had any trouble with worms or weevils in dried corn but all danger can be avoided by heat ing the dried corn i'll the oven till as hot as the hand can bear, then store it in clean tin cans and cover tightly. It will keep for several years. To use dried corn soak it over night in just water enough to cover and sim mcr slowly till tender in the same water. Season as fresh corn. Better yet soak the corn in sweet milk and bake slowly in the same milk, season with butter, salt, and very little sugar, and it will equal fresh corn.
 Corn that is a little past the roast ing-ear stage may be dried and then ground i'll a coffee mill and baked in milk or cooked as a breakfast food or used like meal in making corn bread or griddle cakes. This is the best ever tama1e filling too, and worth trying in the stuffing for the Thanks giving turkey mixed half or less with bread crumbs
 Drying String Beans.
 Not many know that string beans can be dried but they keep well and are equal to canned beans if soaked long time before cooking. The beans should be gathered while tender and strung and broken in pieces as ii for cooking. Have ready a large kettle of boiling water salted rather well. Put the beans in a flour sack and dip them in the water for about five min utes, then into cold water one min ute, then drain well and spread thinly on clean sh-etiug in the sun. They dry little more slowly than corn aud should be turned and stirred the sec ond day. When quite dry heat ill the oven and pack in cans or paper boxes closed tightly. Like the dried corn they will keep for years
 Drying Fruit In the Sun
 Every year we dry some fruit al the ranch but only for home use and in the old-fashioned way. We are so ctten asked to sell this fruit and visitors who taste it at the ranch table comment so upon its quality that have concluded that good, sun dried fruit would find a very special market among people who know a good thing when they taste it.
 We do not sulphur any fruit for drying, though this practice gives a winter fruit We think it spells the flavor even if it improves the looks. Apples, pears peaches and plums are the fruit we have dried and it is all done in the same general way. Peel quarter and core apples and spread in the sun as soon as possible, not allowing them to stand in quantities after peeliug. When thoroughly dry heat in the oven, not too hot but enough to kill any eggs of fruit worms. and pack in cans or heavy muslin sacks. We have dried apples