256 GARDEN FARMING 



After this additional quantity of salt has been given, the brine 

 should test between 65 and 70 degrees on Baume's salt scale. 

 After the tank has stood three or four days, the top brine will have 

 lost strength until it has fallen to 35 or 40 degrees, when 4 or 5 

 pounds of salt to each 100 pounds of fruit should be added. After 

 another period of four or five days, or as soon as the brine falls to 

 45 or 50 degrees, another addition of 4 pounds of salt to each 100 

 pounds of fruit should be made in the way above noted. After a 

 week's time the brine will test about 55 or 60 degrees, at which 

 point the cucumbers should keep well, the only additional attention 

 necessary being to pump the brine over by means of a pump placed 

 in the wooden box at the side of the tank, every five or six days 

 for the first month, and once in three weeks or once a month 

 thereafter as long as the pickles are held in the brine. The pump- 

 ing over is for the purpose of raising to the top the heavy brine, 

 which naturally settles to the bottom, and to cause the contents 

 of the tank to be more evenly salted. 



During the time the tank is being filled the brine is kept deep 

 enough to cover the pickles at all times. After the tank has been 

 filled with cucumbers, that is, heaped up to a height of from 1 8 

 inches to 2 feet above the rim of the tank, i pound of salt to each 

 100 pounds of cucumbers is placed over the top layer, as noted 

 above. The false head of the tank is then put in place, stringers 

 are laid on top of it, and the whole is weighted with barrels of 

 salt or other material to force the cucumbers down into the tank 

 and beneath the surface of the brine. 



The gathering and handling of cucumbers at the salting station 

 involve comparatively little expense, but because the cucumbers are 

 not used immediately by the factories the capital invested is tied 

 up for a long time. The fact that this salt stock can be held with- 

 out material loss for several years places the pickling industry upon 

 a comparatively safe basis. A crop failure in one locality in any 

 particular year does not, as a rule, affect the work of the factory 

 or change the price of fresh stock, for the reserve stock can be 

 drawn upon for the needs of the factory. 



There is no reason why the work of salting pickle stock should 

 not be economically and satisfactorily done on the farm. The 

 equipment necessary for this need not be expensive, and can be 



