58 THE APPLE. 



dessert, the value of the apple is still greater for the kitchen, 

 and in sauces, pies, tarts, preserves, and jellies, and roasted and 

 boiled, this fruit is the constant and invaluable resource of the 

 kitchen. Apple butter, made by stewing pared and sliced sweet 

 apples in new cider until the whole is soft and pulpy, is a com- 

 mon and excellent article of food in many farmers' families, and 

 is frequently made by the barrel, in Connecticut. In France, 

 nearly the same preparation is formed by simmering apples in 

 new wine, until the whole becomes a sort of marmalade, which 

 is called Raisine. The juice of the apple un fermented, is, in 

 some parts of the country, boiled down till it becomes molasses. 

 When fermented it forms cider, and if this is carefully made 

 from the best cider apples, it is nearly equal to wine ; in fact 

 many hundreds of barrels, of the cider of New-Jersey, have 

 been manufactured in a single year, into an imitation Cham- 

 pagne, which is scarcely distinguished by many from that made 

 from the grape. 



Dried apples are also a considerable article of commerce. 

 Farmers usually pare and quarter them by hand, and dry them 

 in the sun ; but those who pursue it as a matter of trade pare 

 them by machinery, and dry them slowly in ovens. They are 

 then packed in bags or barrels, and are used either at home, in 

 sea stores, or are exported. 



In perfumery, the pulp of this fruit, mixed intimately with 

 lard, forms pomatum. The wood is employed for lasts, and for 

 other purposes by turners ; and being fine grained and com- 

 pact is sometimes stained black, and used for ebony, by cabinet 

 makers. 



The quality of an apple is always judged of by the use to 

 which it is to be applied. A table or dessert apple of the finest 

 quality should be of medium size, regular form and fine colour ; 

 and the flesh should be fine-grained, crisp, or tender, and of a 

 sprightly or rich flavour, and aroma. Very large sized, or coarse 

 apples are only admired by persons who have little knowledge 

 of the true criterion of excellence. Apples for kitchen use 

 should have the property of cooking evenly into a tender pulpy 

 consistence, and are generally acid in flavour ; and, although 

 there are many good cooking apples unfit for the table, many 

 sorts, as the Fall Pippin and the Greening, are excellent for 

 both purposes. To this we may add that for the common apple- 

 sauce made by farmers a high flavoured sweet apple, which boils 

 somewhat firm, is preferred, as this is generally made with cider. 

 The very common use made of this cheap preserve at the north 

 and west, and the recent practice of fattening hogs, horses, and 

 other animals upon sweet apples, accounts for the much greater 

 number of varieties of sweet apples held in esteem here than in 

 any other country. In fact, so excellent has the saccharine mat- 

 ter of the apple been found for this purpose, that whole orchards 



