308 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Home Canning. 



MRS. L. M. GLENZKA, HOPKINS. 



Taking care of the waste crop. God has a great work for us 

 in His field ; we are His stewards. Every year, I am sure, one-half 

 of each crop is wasted, not wilfully, just being unable to market 

 it because there is not enough to pay for the time of hauling, and 

 it is left to waste. Then the average farmer, say nothing of the 

 city gardener, buys canned goods the rest of the year. There is 

 a great demand for every fruit and vegetable. If you do not 

 believe it let me instruct you how to can this waste crop, and I 

 will sell as many thousand cans as you can can. This is the only 

 way in which to keep carrots, beets, spinach, beet greens, chard, 

 peas, beans and all other vegetables and fruit in a fresh state and 

 ready to serve in a few moments. Carrots, no matter how well 

 they are packed, have not the flavor in the winter that is to be 

 had in the early part of the season, also beets. Canning is very 

 successfully and easily done. One day will care for the crop each 

 week on the average farm. Mr. Glenzke and I have canned as 

 high as twenty bushels of tomatoes in a day. An ordinary bushel 

 will fill from twenty to twenty-five quarts, a very poor bushel 

 might not fill more than fifteen cans. When you have to peel off 

 the out-side, and then dig out a black core, as we did two seasons 

 back, it does not leave much for the cans. Any fruit well peeled 

 and all bad parts removed is just as good as the best fruit when 

 it is in the cans. Anyone can sell a good bushel of tomatoes for 

 $1.50, the culls at 10c per can, and twenty-three cans will make 

 $2.30. Three cents per can is 69c, leaving you $1.61 for your 

 culls. 



It takes one day to get the load ready for market, and an- 

 other to take it to market, and the next day everyone knows you 

 are all tired out. If that much time had been taken in canning, 

 the chores would not have been neglected, at least one day's hay- 

 ing could have been done, the only difference would be your money 

 would all come in at one time when the can goods would be sold. 

 You would have to invest in cans, but your returns would be much 

 greater than the fresh products. And another fact is, the best 

 fruit peels easier than the culls ; I feel this is sufficient argument. 

 I would have been glad had some one told me how many cans I 

 could get out of a bushel and how much the cans were to weigh. 

 This I had to find out by experience — also I bought a canner, 

 which is not necessary. It is much more important to have fruit 



