PIN MONEY IN PICKLES 165 



Keep the hills light and clean, also the whole space 

 between them. Plows can run between the hills until 

 the vines begin to spread. Once they fairly cover the 

 earth, what grass comes up will not hurt them. Rooted 

 in the rich hills, they can easily give odds to anything 

 growing in poor soil. When plowing is no longer pos- 

 sible, a little hoe work and hand-weeding may be in order, 

 but take care neither to bruise the vines nor to throw 

 loose dirt upon the leaves, especially while the dew is on. 



Unless there is a ready market close at hand, get the 

 brine barrel ready as soon as the first flowers appear. It 

 must be clean and sweet before the brine goes in — old 

 pork and fish barrels always taint their later contents. 

 Empty whisky barrels or molasses barrels do excellently, 

 but should be well painted outside with red lead, to pre- 

 vent the ravages of wood worms. Make the brine of soft 

 water and clean salt, strong enough to float an egg. A 

 little brown sugar or molasses improves the keeping qual- 

 ity. Bring it to a boil, and skim clean after everything 

 is dissolved. Pour it into the barrel boiling hot, let stand 

 a day, and skim again before putting in pickles. 



The net result is very nearly the same whether the 

 pickles are cut small or at full growth. Decide in the 

 beginning which size it shall be, and stick to the decision. 

 Cut the pickles every morning, while the dew is on — 

 thus they are plump and cool, in the best condition for 

 keeping. Use very sharp shears for clipping, and take 

 care to leave the least bit of stalk to each pickle, but 

 never to wound, bruise or break the vine. If by accident 

 a vine is bruised or torn, cut it off remorselessly, so it 

 shall not decay and set up disease in the whole plant. 

 Be careful of bruising the pickles. In washing, use 

 plenty of water, and drain them well before putting them 

 into the brine. Keep a weighted wooden cover floating 

 on top of the brine, thus insuring that the pickles shall 

 stay covered. Put only one sort and size of pickle into a 



