STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 99 



haps a kitten or a dog for company, will go away by themselves and 

 read and eat by the hour, apparently supremel3- happy. The pater 

 familias, when he comes into the sitting-room for a rest or for a 

 passing word, alwaAS helps himself to the appetizing fruit from the 

 dish on the table ; and, in olden times, the pitcher of cider over the 

 broad fire-place, would be the loser when he left by a good full 

 glass of the yellow sparkling juice. 



Through New England, in the country, apple-sauce is on the 

 table three times a da}' as regularly as is bread and butter. The 

 apples are pared, cored, stewed and sweetened, and if by chance 

 the same is spiced, as if for pies, the family eats a double portion. 

 When the cider comes home, all sweet from the mill, the cider 

 apple-sauce or apple jack is made. The cider is boiled down in 

 large quantities, sweet apples are placed in the bottom of the big 

 kettles to prevent scorching, and frequently a barrel is made at one 

 time for the winter's supply. It has a very tart, clean taste, and 

 eaten with meat is almost as nice as cranberries. 



You have all heard of the pan-dowdy or pan-pie, the pride of onr- 

 grandmothers and the delight of many of their daughters. It was 

 baked in the brick oven. A large earthen pot was heaped full of 

 sweet apples, pared and cored, and was then half filled with equal 

 quantities of molasses and water, covered with a ver}' thick crust, 

 and not disturbed till morning. Then the crust was broken into the 

 steaming contents, which were rich and red, and the whole replaced 

 in the oven to stay till the oven was cold. It came out one hand- 

 some jellied mass, and was eaten with cream, and was second only 

 to strawberries and cream. The Indian pudding, which suggests 

 baked beans and brown bread, is better far with a good generous 

 addition of sweet apples. 



What is richer than baked sweet apples eaten with cream or a 

 bowl of creamy milk ; sprinkle sugar over them before baking and put 

 a little water in the dish. All good wives cut them up for their 

 husbands, (this for the ladies only.) Nothing tastes so good to the 

 invalid, just beginning to rally from a long sickness, as the baked 

 sour apple, and nothing is safer for him to eat. 



Perhaps the most palatable, as well as the simplest way of cook- 

 ing the fruit for dessert, is in the form of sago pudding. Put a 

 cup of sago in a pint of warm water to soak ; cover your pudding- 

 dish with whole sour apples, pared and cored ; sprinkle a small cup 

 of sugar over them and nearly enough hot water to cover them. 



