EVAPORATING FRUITS. 291 



supply is of the best quality. People are finding out of 

 late that they are not only very wholesome but that they 

 are cheaper than canned fruits. To prove this one need 

 only buy a can of any sort and its equivalent in cost in 

 the best evaporated fruits, place the latter in water for 

 eight or ten hours (which should always be done previous 

 to stewing slowly), and then try to put it in the empty 

 can ; the result will be a revelation most damaging to the 

 canned article. 



The truth is that every agricultural family ought to own 

 one of these evaporators ; one of the smaller sizes will suf-* 

 fice to save many and many a dollar's worth of good, 

 wholesome food that must otherwise be wasted ; and this 

 is particularly so in Florida, where, during the heat of the 

 summer months, fruits and vegetables are apt to be scarce. 

 The farmer who owns one of these improved evaporators 

 and the number is daily increasing, for there is no farm 

 implement that will pay its cost so quickly or so often in a 

 season the farmer, we say, who owns one of these can, 

 during the season of plenty, dry all his surplus peas, beans, 

 sweet-corn, tomatoes, potatoes, both sweet and Irish, tur- 

 nips, beets, cabbages, egg-plant, or onions; it needs only 

 then to tie them up in paper or close muslin bags to "bar 

 out" insects, and when needed for use to soak them for a 

 few hours and cook slowly. It is no light thing, as every 

 householder knows, to have fresh vegetables on hand at 

 all seasons. In this one respect alone, apart from all com- 

 mercial considerations, we can not over-estimate the value 

 of these money and labor savers. 



And the same is true of fruits ; in the season of plenty, 

 blackberries, strawberries, mulberries, huckleberries, plums, 

 peaches, pears, pine-apples, guavas, may be preserved for 

 future use with the greatest ease, and without the expense 

 of glass jars, cans, or sugar. 



