FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 223 



receive your attention, the weather is hot, the help in the kitchen is 

 called home or has a felon just as the extra hands for haying appear, and 

 the fruit must be put up. How welcome would be then some process by 

 which the fruit could be canned without the use of long stewing, putting 

 the cans in hot water, etc., to kill off and discourage the bacteria which 

 else would spoil the fruit. There are several processes which do accom- 

 plish the preservation of fruit without use of heat, but so far as I have 

 investigated them I cannot recommend them as being safe to use, and for 

 this reason they all involve the use, as a preservative, of salicylic acid or 

 salicylates. (Salicylic acid, antifermentin, extract of salyx and Amer- 

 ican Woman's Standard Canning Process were then compared by 

 appropriate tests.) The objection to salicylic acid as a preservative is 

 this: since it prevents the decomposition induced by bacteria, its 

 presence in food materials must also in like manner prevent the decom- 

 position of food material, which we term digestion. This is what we 

 might logically expect, and is what has found to be the truth in many 

 <?ases which have come to my knowledge. As an example of the power of 

 this substance as a preservative, I may call to your notice the bottle of 

 tomato catsup which stands on our hotel tables day after day, and week 

 after week, without spoiling, although open freely to the air; while 

 catsup made in the farmer's kitchen would spoil in a week's time, or less, 

 exposed to such conditions. Of the hotel sample made by the large 

 manufacturers of these goods, an analysis will show the presence of 

 about .15 of one per cent of salicylic acid — not much, to be sure, but 

 enough to account for the great difference in keeping qualities between 

 domestic and factory made catsup. The use of this substance as a pre- 

 servative for fruit should not be indulged in, however great the desire, 

 which we all have in common, to help the housewife and lighten her bur- 

 den at this most trying season. 



(Methods for testing with baking powder, together with a formula for 

 a home-made baking powder were then shown and explained.) 



I cannot close this rather rambling discourse without calling your 

 attention to a very useful disinfectant and deodorizer, which you will 

 find to be easily prepared, and which, aside from its germicidal power, is 

 also an excellent material to clean sinks and drains. Take a common 

 stoneware crock holding about three gallons, fill nearly full with water, 

 and dissolve in this three or four pounds of sal-soda crystals. To this 

 solution add a pound or two of chloride of lime, stir thoroughly together. 

 A clear solution, with a white sediment at the bottom of the crock, will 

 lae the result after a few hours. Use the clear solution freely in your 

 sinks, drains and slop jars, and you will be convinced that it is worth the 

 trouble to prepare. 



