hampshire county farm bureau monthly 

 home: making 



MISS HKLKN A. HAUKIJIAN, Deiiionstratiuil Aseiit 



Home Canning; not to be Seized by the 

 Qovernment 



This year, greater emphasis than ever 

 has been placed upon the necessity for 

 preservation. The response to this ap- 

 peal to can or dry everything possible 

 was most gratifying. All over the State 

 in canning centers, in the .Junior clubs 

 and in the homes the homemaker and 

 theii' helpers were busy. 



The canning season is practically over 

 and now we are anxious to get some 

 definite idea of just how much has been 

 accomplished in Massachusetts. 



In order to make a fairly accurate 

 summary of work done in preservation 

 during the summer, it will be necessary 

 to get a report from individual families. 

 Printed forms have been sent to the 

 different counties in the State. These 

 will be distributed to town leaders who 

 will collect the data in whatever way 

 seems easiest and best; it may be by a 

 hou.se to house canvass ; by appointing 

 a chairman in each community to solicit 

 from her neighbors ; by taking the .sheets 

 to the Red Cros". or other general meet- 

 ing and at that time, asking the women 

 to report on the amount preserved. 



The printed blank calls for a report 1 

 of "home canteen service." There is a 

 column for each of the following: quarts 

 canned, pounds dried, gallons salted, 

 both fruits and vegetables ; another for 

 fruit products, jams, jellies, juices, but- 

 ters; and still another for eggs, flsh and : 

 meat preserved. The names of the I 

 families making these reports need not 

 be given. The rumor that the Govern- 

 ment is trying to find out jnst where 

 food is stored, in order to seize it, in ab- 

 solute! i/ fatse. 



The Massachusetts Agricultural Col- 

 lege and the Food Administration are 

 standing back of this movement, and it 

 is to be on a state-wide basis. 



The report sheets will be sent out dur- 

 ing the weeks of October 1.3 and 20 and 

 are due October 2.5th, at the Farm Bu- 

 reau office. A summary of these sta- 

 tistics will be sent to Amherst from 

 every Farm Bureau in the state and the 

 final report made to Washington. 



It is up to each community to cooper- 

 ate as fully as possible to make its re- 

 port compare favorably with other com- 

 munities in the county and to make 

 Hampshire County go over the top. We 

 are an.xious to make a good showing for ; 

 county and our state. 



Home Canning Army Likely to Set a 

 Record This Year 



The home canning army is going over 

 the top. Every indication points to 

 making the 1,.500,000,000-quart goal set 

 for this summer's objective. 



Reports from the manufacturers of 

 canning supplies who are conforming to 

 recommendations of the United States 

 I'epartment of Agriculture, show a con- 

 siderable increase in the output of equip- 

 ment that saves time and labor in home 

 canning. A .50 per cent increase is indi- 

 cated this year in the number of firms 

 that manufacture canning supplies and 

 an average increase of 25 per cent in tha 

 quantity of equipment sold. Makers of 

 standard quality rubber rings report a 

 .'300 per cent greater demand for their 

 products since last year, which indicates 

 the hou.sekeepers' growing appreciation 

 of the importance of good rings, and 

 means an ultimate reduction in spoilage. 



Save Fruit Pits and Nut Shells to 

 Combat German Gas 



One of the essentials of the masks 

 needed to protect our soldiers against 

 poison gases is carbon. The manufac- 

 ture of carbon of such grade as to make 



the masks efficient is threatened because 

 of a shortage of the essential raw ma- 

 terials. 



In addition to our needs for carbon, 

 the British Government has called upon 

 us to furnish a considerable quantity 

 each month, which makes the need for 

 materials even greater. 



Excellent carbon can be made of ma- 

 terials which daily are going into the 

 garbage pail and waste heaps. These 

 are: 



a. Peach stones 



b. Apricot pits 



c. Prune pits 



d. Olive pits 



e. Date seeds 



f. Cherry pits 



g. Brazil nut shells 



h. The shells of hickory nuts, wal- 

 nuts and butternuts 

 i. Plum pits 



Two hundred peach pits, or seven 

 pounds of nut shells, will make enough 

 carbon for one gas mask, which may 

 save the life of a soldier. With this 

 knowledge in mind, all hou-'^ewives, pro- 

 prieters of hotels and restaurants, can- 

 ners and grocers are enlisted in a 

 national effort to save the shells of nuts 

 and the pits and stones of fruits men- 

 tioned here, which have hitherto gone to 

 waste. 



The American Red Cross will be in 

 active charge in each town and city. 

 Representatives of the Red Cross will 

 arrange for centrally located deposi- 

 tories and will accept collections from 

 all sources and make arrangements for 

 shipping materials to the desired points. 



Persons making collections should not 

 take any pits that are not thoroughly 

 dried. It is very important that pits be 



Save on Sugar 



The use of raisins may help to solve 

 the problem. We have usually con- 

 sidered them as sort of garnish, a bit 

 of additional flavor to our puddings and 

 cakes without realizing their food value, 

 and their place as a sugar saver. Re- 

 garded in this way they may seem ex- 

 pensive, but if you realize they are tak- 

 ing the place of some sugar in your 

 grocery order, they will appear to you 

 as a food and not a luxury. 



SOME SUGGESTIONS? 



They may be used in breakfast cereal, 

 with rice in a pudding, in steamed pud- 

 dings or plain cake. Raisins make a 

 good sauce when stewed tender in a little 

 water; their own store of sugar will 

 make it sufficiently sweet. These stewed 

 raisins may be used over rice or corn- 

 starch blanc mange. Apples may be 

 coi-ed and the centers filled as full as 

 possible with raisins. Then baked slow- 

 ly and no sugar will be needed. 



Prunes are often badly cooked and 

 not as highly esteemed as they might be. 

 Long, slow cooking, in plenty of water to 

 cover them well is necessary to make 

 them soft and juicy, no sugar being 

 added during the process. When done, 

 they should be moderately sweetened and 

 allowed to stand at least twenty- four 

 hours before serving. They will then be 

 plump and well seasoned to the center. 

 Prunes of the cheapest grade are often 

 little but skin and stone and even care- 

 ful cooking will not make them attrac- 

 tive. Hence, it pays to buy prunes of 

 good quality. Prunes keep well and 

 there are many uses for them. Variety 

 can be given to the menu by combina- 

 tions of the more inexpensive fruits. 

 Dried peaches stewed with raisins, 

 prunes stewed with apricots, raisins or 

 dates baked with dried apples in a pie, 

 are all attractive combinations. 



dried in ovens or in the sun. Each indi- 

 vidual or hotel should arrange to dry 

 their own, but if this is impossible 

 special arrangements should be made to 

 dry the pits. 



All materials must be turned over to 

 the Red Cross in each town or city. 

 They will make all shipments. The nuts 

 and shells sent in to the Red Cross col- 

 lecting points should be packed in bags, 

 boxes or cartons. And no single bag 

 or carton should weigh more than seven- 

 ty pounds. 



Precautions. No other materials than 

 those mentioned should be included in 

 the collections. 



The kernels should not be extracted 

 from pits. 



