REPORT ON CANNED FRUITS, &c. 



The Committee in charge of this department did not find a very 

 extensive exhibition of articles, but nearly everything that was shown 

 possessed unusual merit, and in point of quality excelled the exhibits 

 of man}' former years. 



This is perhaps owing somewhat to the fact that increased attention 

 is being given to new methods of preserving fruits and other nutritious 

 edibles, and also of improving some of tlie old ways of accomplishing 

 the same object. Formerh', scarcely an}' of our common fruits were 

 preserved for domestic use, except the Quince, Apple, Peach and 

 Plum, and these were cooked in their own weight of sugar, " pound for 

 pound," and boiled down till it was strong enough to keep. In many 

 cases this boiling down caused the fruit to become quite hard and 

 tough so as to be absolutely indigestible, and while the original flavor 

 of the fruit was so counteracted b}' the large amount of sugar used 

 that it needed an expert to tell what \'ariety of fruit any specimen of 

 "preserves" contained. This course was also costly, and when 

 fruit was plenty', the economical housekeeper often bewailed the high 

 price of sugar which prevented her from keeping a sufficient quantity 

 of fruit for the comfort and enjo^'raent of the famil}'. But now, the 

 art of putting ripe fruit of all kinds into cans, and by different 

 methods excluding the air, has become so universal that the variety of 

 fruits preserved is onl}- limited by the infinite number of good things 

 that grow upon the face of the earth. 



This new method is also economical. The cans will serve for use 

 for man}" 3-ears, and some kinds of fruit need no addition of sugar, 

 and therefore retain their original flavor and digestibility. So also in 



