APPLE. 31 



GATHERING AND KEEPING THE APPLE. 



Apples should be gathered in dry weather, and those 

 which are to be stored for winter use plucked by the hand. 

 Delay gathering the fruit till there is serious apprehension 

 of frost. The most approved way then is to place the fruit 

 immediately into tight, dry flour-barrels, packing it closely, 

 and heading it up quite full, to prevent bursting in rolling. 

 They are then placed in some shady exposure, some shed 

 open to the air, or under the trees, protected by boards 

 placed under and over the barrels, or at the north side of 

 the building, the barrels being similarly protected by boards 5 

 in such places they remain a few weeks, or till extreme 

 cold weather, when they are carefully transferred to a dry, 

 cool cellar, where air can be occasionally let in from the 

 outer atmosphere on days not too cold. 



The barrels should be placed on their side, and kept 

 as dark as possible. The colder apples can be preserved 

 throughout the winter without reaching the freezing point, 

 the better for winter fruit. Packed in dry, close barrels, 

 apples will bear a frost nearly twelve degrees below freezing 

 temperature. 



Before entering upon the uses of the apple, we would 

 advise every housekeeper to provide herself with a tin apple- 

 corer, a cheap and useful article for extracting the cores of 

 apples, and also with a tin apple-roaster, that can be put be- 

 fore the fire. 



APPLE BATTER. 



Take twelve juicy apples, slice them thin, and stir them 

 into a batter prepared thus. Take six eggs, beat them quite 

 light ; stir them, with flour enough to make a batter a little 

 thicker than pound cake, into a pint of rich milk ; stir them 

 in alternately with the fruit, and just before you put it into 

 the oven, stir in a little melted butter. Bake in a deep dish. 



