128 



PRESERVATION OF FRUITS— AMERICAN GRAPE CULTURE. 



■with that variety, and so superior to all other varie- 

 ties of osier was it found, that ten years since, a wil- 

 low plantation under ray charge, planted with inferior 

 varieties, I had cleared, prepared, and planted exclu- 

 sively with that. The principal points of its excel- 

 lence consist in its very vigorous growth, annually 

 giving rods of great length and uniform thickness; 

 but the great quality of all, is its extreme toughness. 

 Nurserymen in Europe use willows largely for .sewing 

 their bundles of trees. This variety from its length, 

 slightness, (in proportion to length), the facility with 

 which it can be twisted, beat, sewed, or drawn, like 

 a piece of twine, without cracking in the least, re- 

 commends it before any variety I have ever seen. I 

 need not remark that basket-makers hke this quality 

 quite as well as nurserymen. This is an old variety, 

 though not generally grown in England. In one or 

 two places in Gloucestershire it is admirably grown, 

 to the exclusion of all others. I can not help re- 

 gretting that this variety should have been given a 

 new name on its introduction here. It has no partic- 

 ular name where grown, but I conceive it would be 

 better to designate it the Gloucestershire willow, or 

 the Tockingtoii, from the village near which it is e.x- 

 tensively grown. New names have had their bad 

 effects on fruits introduced into this country, and it 

 will lead to as much confusion if applied to willows. 

 — John Saul in Horticulturist. 



PRESEEVATION OF FRUITS. 



As the season approaches for the enjoyment of our 

 earlier and more perishable fruits, these, such as 

 strawberries, raspberries, currants, gooseberries, cher- 

 ries, and plums, constitute the delicacies of the sea- 

 son. They give health and enjoyment to all who can 

 obtain them. But das, their season is short. We 

 have not yet succeeded, as Col. Peabodt, in having 

 strawberries six months in the year. We keep them 

 a few weeks, and they are gona Few know the 

 pleasure of tasting fresh berries later in the season 

 or in the middle of winter, and yet it is not difficult 

 to preserve them, so that they may be had fresh, 

 daring the whole year. 



Various plans have been adopted for preserving 

 fruits. The plan of drying them has long been prac- 

 tised, but this preserves to us only a portion of the 

 fresh fruits. Dry them ever so carefully, and there 

 escapes with the water some portion of the original 

 aroma and flavor of the fruit. Currants and goose- 

 berries ha\'e frequently been preserved by being put 

 into bottles while green, and the bottles afterwards 

 sealed up. Currants have been kept in this way 

 twenty years. But it is possible to take the perfectly 

 ripened fruit and preserve it perfectly for months and 

 years. 



In the first place prepare a suitable number of 

 cans, made of the best tin, to hold the quantity you 

 wish to preserve. It is best to have these cans small, 

 holding only what will be eaten soon after one has 

 been opened; for it is observable that anything that 

 has been kept preserved from decay by an arrest of 

 natural laws, for a long time, when restored to the 

 influence of those laws, undergoes chemical changes 

 with great rapidity. Let those cans be, say seven or 

 eight inches long and four or five in diameter, a hole 



being left in the cap of one end, an inch perh 

 in diameter. The fruit selected should be perfei 

 ripe and sound, having no spots of decay upon 

 The softer fruits, such as strawberries, rasberries, 

 had better be crushed, as the can may then be m 

 entirely expelled. Currants, gooseberries, cheii 

 plums, and peaches, may be put in whole. (W 

 the jars are intended for so large fruit, one end n 

 be left unsoldered until filled). When the cans 

 filled, a piece of tin is to be soldered over the 1 

 in the end, having in it a small hole of the size 

 admit a pin. The canisters are then to be placet 

 boiling water, and so kept until the air has ceasec 

 issue from the pin hole. This can be easily knowi 

 dropping a drop of water on the hole ; if it bub 

 then the air is still issuing from the canister; if it( 

 not bubble then the process is complete, and a c 

 of water on this hole hermetically seals it. If tl 

 canisters be now kept in a cool place the fruit 

 have all the freshness at the end of a year's time 

 it had when put up. 



Every one who has cultivated them, knows i 

 the tomato is a perishable fruit. The tomati 

 easily preserved in this manner. We, ourself, at 

 eral times during the latter part of last winter, at 

 the tomato preserved in this manner. We could 

 detect with the most careful scrutiny that it had 

 all the life and true tomato flavor of the fruit 1 

 from the vines. 



Almost every family in the summer and fall n 

 what they call their preserves. To do this an am 

 of sugar is used, equal in weight to the fruit ti 

 preserved. A day's boiling, skimming and pad 

 and the thing is done for the time. But at su 

 times afterwards, unless the luck is unusual, the 

 serves are " working," and the boiling and skimi 

 has to be gone over again. 



Now at an expense a trifle only greater than 

 of making the "preserves" of one year, a stoc 

 canisters is obtained that will last many years, 

 in which fruit, with no more trouble, can be prese 

 with all its unchanged, original flavor upon it; 

 this too, when the work is well done, requiring 

 subsequent operation. — Granite Farmer. 



AMERICAN GRAPE CUITTTRE. 



The Western Record contains an extended st 

 tical article on American grape culture, and fron 

 facts it has gathered, expresses the opinion that v 

 the vine remains as it now is in the region of Cii 

 nati, unaffected by any great increase of insects, 

 asites, or other causes of blight, the grape may 

 be cultivated at a large profit, even when the wi 

 reduced to fifty cents per gallon. But such is 

 demand for pure Catawba wine, and such is the 

 sumption of wine in the country, that it is sa 

 say, that in full thirty years to come, wine canno 

 reduced to fifty cents a gallon. In all that time, 

 good cultivators must realize heavy profits. 

 Record thinks that there must be five million a 

 planted in vines before the price can be reduce^ 

 a minimum in the United States! This fact is ent 

 to insure cultivators against any hazard of an c 

 stocked market 



