No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 511 



ADDITIONAL LIST OF GOOD PEARS. 



Doyenne D'Et^, ripens middle of July; small, yellow and red. 

 Lawsou, middle of July; large, handsome, good for market. 

 Osband's Summer, August; medium, yellow, red cheek. 

 Kirtland, August and September; russet, medium, 

 Howell, large, yellow; September. 



HOME PRESERVATION OF FRUITS. 



By Mks. H. a. Sueface, Mechanicsburg, Pa. 



Fruit is generally and erroneously regarded as a luxury, rather 

 than as a valuable and necessary article of food, and many house- 

 wives who now stint this supply for economy's sake, would better 

 banish rich pastry from their tables and substitute instead an abund- 

 ance of fruit. 



Acid fruits assist in the digestion and assimilation of carbonace- 

 ous foods, and where the diet is largely made up of fats, sweets and 

 starchy foods, unless an abundance of fruit be eaten, or a great deal 

 of out-door exercise taken, headaches and billiousness, neuralgia, 

 rheumatism and kindred disorders result. For persons engaged in 

 sedentary pursuits, fruit is as necessary as bread and meat. It is 

 said that the acid found in most northern fruits stimulates diges- 

 tion, and is in itself a nerve food. Peaches, plums, apricots and 

 cherries abound in this acid, retaining it in a large degree when 

 dried, and it is found also in almonds, raisins and peach pits. One 

 or two peach pits eaten regularly after meals have been known to 

 cure nervous forms of indigestion. Perhaps in this also lies the 

 secret of the great condimental and food value of almonds. 



Nowhere is there greater need of a generous supply of fruit than 

 on the farm, where the diet is apt to be restricted in variety, because 

 of the distance from markets, and no breakfast should be consid- 

 ered complete without fruit. Every farmer should raise a generous 

 supply of the kinds that can be grown in his locality. 



In the season when each kind of fruit is plentiful, a generous 

 supply should be canned for the season when both fruits and vege- 

 tables are scarce. Plenty of juice from the small, juicy fruits, should 

 '^e canned for refreshing drinks throughout the year. 



If more fruit is raised than the farmily needs, it may be made a 

 source of income by sending the fresh fruit to a nearby market, or by 

 canning, preserving, or making it into jelly. There is magic in the 

 words "Home Made" placed on a label. 



The home fruit preserving industry was at its height when it was 

 a serious necessity; from pioneer, or colonial times until about the 

 beginning of the last quarter of the nineteenth century. In those 

 days no home store-room was considered well stocked without its 

 rows of canned and preserved fruits, all carefully labeled, and its 

 scores of glasses of jelly. 



