SECRETARY'S PORTFOLIO, 443 



two if they are dry. Then, when the watery mess is done, it is made so sweet 

 as to be sickening to one who hoped to find in it an acid taste. In the same 

 manner the ordinary apple pie is deprived of all its delicacy and delicious- 

 ness. Water is the quality by which these are carried away, and their exit is 

 made certain by some ornamental design cut through the crust. Which is 

 much like strewing the path of a fugitive thief with flowers and garlands. 

 Fruits were designed for man, both as a food and a luxury, to be used in their 

 season, cooling the fervid blood during the sultry days of summer; rather 

 than to be kept for some future time to disorder the system in in the form of 

 highly seasoned, highly spiced, heavily sweetened preserves. 



Fruit Canning. — In 1884 we published the plan of covering fruit cans 

 with cotton as a substitute for rubber and screw top. We gladly give place to 

 the following successful experience, as related by Mrs. Nellie S. Kedzie, of the 

 Kansas Agricultural College: 



When M. Pasteur advanced his theory that all fermentation was caused by 

 organisms so minute that they floated about in the air, he very soon announced 

 that according to his experiments, these small bodies would not pass through 

 cotton. Now if they cannot go through cotton, and if they are the cause of 

 fermentation, cotton will prevent the canned fruit from spoiling. Many 

 people have experimented with it and find it a success. The cotton is simply 

 tied over the boiled fruit while it is still hot, serving to keep the germs out 

 just as efficiently as the rubber ring, or any amount of wax. 



In the college kitchen laboratory experiments were tried with five kinds of 

 fruit, including tomatoes, and the results were perfectly satisfactory in every 

 case, not even a particle of mold forming in the can. In most cases the cot- 

 ton was simply tied over the canful of hot fruit ; in some cases there was a 

 piece of white paper put on first to prevent the cotton from dropping down 

 and becoming juice-soaked. This seems to be the preferable way. The cotton 

 is taken just as it comes off the roll, the thickness being about as it unwinds, 

 and it is tied down with strong twine. 



If this should be as successful with all fruit canners as here, there is no longer 

 need for patent fruit cans, for any bottle with a wide neck, suitable to receive 

 the fruit, or any jar with glazing which is perfect, to allow no entrance of air 

 through its walls, will be all-sufficient for keeping the fruit for winter use. 



From the Kural New Yorker we get another good note on canning : 



Last fall a group of ladies were examining a collection of fruit that looked 

 almost as fresh and fair as though just picked from the vines, bushes or trees, 

 whichever they chanced to grow upon. One lady was very sure the fruit had 

 never been cooked, but was well preserved in cold water. Another thought it 

 might have been cooked in the cans. Still another was positive the fruit had 

 been canned by the new process of using acids. Presently the lady who 

 brought the really fine collection came within the circle, and being an old 

 friend, I asked her to impart the secret of her success, for I knew that she put 

 up large quantities of fruit for the market every year. She said there was no 

 secret; the fruit was thoroughly heated without allowing it to boil. The cans 

 were then filled and left open fifteen or twenty minutes, to give the fruit time 

 to settle. After filling up, the covers were put on and screwed down tight. 

 Put up in this way, fruit will keep for years, and if kept in the dark, will 



