PROCEEDINGS OF THE HORTICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 641 



To insure this, till the appliances' and additions to secure such a result 

 should be attended to, and perhaps there is nothing- in horticulture more 

 conducive to this than a well kept fruit garden. It should be the duty of 

 every one who has a home, to beautify and adorn it, so that our dwellings 

 may be the happy abode for ourselves and our families. 

 The regular subject was then taken up. 



Preservation of Fruit. 



Mr. C. C. "Williams, 31G Dean-st., Brooklyn, presents some jars of pine- 

 apples and pears for the inspection of the Association, and gave the fol- 

 lowing interesting account of the manner of preserving them: 



In the first place, I have deemed it of the utmost importance to obtain a 

 jar, or can, that is not only simple and easy to manage, but perfectly reli- 

 able when put to the test. 



Secondly, I am particularly careful to select only sound, ripe fruits, as 

 none other are suitable for canning, and having previously made a syrup, 

 of say one pound of sugar to one quart of water, boiled together and 

 allowed to stand until cooled and settled, and then having prepared my 

 fruit, and placed the same in a raw stale in the jars or cans, I fill them, or 

 nearly so, with the cold syrup, and place them in a kettle of cold water 

 (with the usual caution against breaking), and bring the water in the ket- 

 tle to a boil. After boiling about five or ten minutes I remove the jars or 

 cans to a table, and cover them with a cloth to prevent cooling too sud- 

 denly. In this condition I let them stand about five or ten minutes, during 

 which time the evaporation and consequently shrinkage is ver}'' rapid. At 

 this point I nmiove the cloth from each jar or can, as I want them to seal 

 up. Before doing this I fill up with boiling syrup or boiling water, and 

 immediately' apply the cover or fastenings, and when cold, other things 

 being equal, all is right, my fruit is safe. 



I have only to add that I have to my own mind full}' demonstrated the 

 fact that the old plan of scaling up as sooji as removed from the kettle, is 

 a mistake, inasmuch as no time is given for evaporation or for shrinkage. 

 Hence it is that they who follow the old plan find, when their fruit is cold, 

 their jars are not full. It maj' be asked, " is there not danger that air will 

 enter the jars, if allowed to stand five or ten minutes after removing from 

 the hot water?" We answer, no; because so long as the heat in the jar 

 predominates over the pressure of the air without, there need be no fear 

 that air will be shut in when sealing up. 



Mr. V. B. Mead said that in presenting this subject to the Association, 

 and through it to the public, it should be our endeavor to popularize it. 

 The most prominent method of preserving fruit in its natural state is- by 

 placing it in an ice house built for that purpose. Now it is not to be ex- 

 pected that every one can build an ice house for this purpose. But for 

 keeping apples, an ice house is not absolutely necessary, although good 

 in some respect; still it can be disocnsed with. To preserve apples it is 

 very essential that they should be properly gathered. He tried the process 

 of rubbing them clean, and found that apples treated in this way kept bet- 

 ter than when this was not done. We all know that apples of the same 

 kind differ much in flavor; some will have hardly any, while others will be 

 [Am I.vst.] 0* 



