376 TRANSACTIONS OF THK 



her daughters in marriage — all by apple butter. It is much more 

 delicious than apple sauce. A spoon is used to eat it as with 

 honey. It is so sweet that some persons add a portion of tart 

 (sour) apples to diminish the excessive sweetness. In our New- 

 York, sweet cider costs one dollar a barrel, and apples, one shil- 

 ling a barrel. Apple butter sometimes costs a half dollar a gal- 

 lon. 



Mr. Robinson — Much of it is made in our far west. 



The Chairman asked Mr. Pardee, w^hose experience in fruit is 

 great — How do you keep fresh apples 1 



Mr. Pardee — Whatever plan may be adopted, one thing must 

 not be omitted — the apples must have air. 



Chairman — I am aware of that, and am in the habit of taking 

 them out of their barrels once a month to dry them, and then 

 put them back again, once every month. 



Mr. Pardee — Cellars are generally unfit places for the apples, 

 because of their want of ventilation; for bad air often exists in 

 dry cellars, as well as in damp ones ! Apples must be over- 

 hauled once in every two to three months. I find, on trial, that 

 the pure white sand, from our Coney Island, when perfectly dried, 

 keeps apples buried in it in barrels, &c., very well indeed. Their 

 flavor is preserved — and in most ordinary methods, it is much 

 injured. 



Chairman — Dry upper rooms, where there is no frost, keep 

 them well ; but they must -not be bruised. 



Mr. Robinson — Bruises on apples are very commonly found to 

 dry up, and do not rot the rest of the apple. 



Mr. Bergen — Who knows the best way to preserve our pump- 

 kins, for we easily raise vast quantities, but we are apt to lose 

 largely by their decay ? 



Mr. Robinson — Go to the Shakers and they will show you. 

 They first cby them and then grind them into a meal, that keeps 

 perfectly. 



Chairman — To keep them whole, there must be an escape for 

 all moisture, a steady, cool temperature. To keep sweet pota- 

 toes, they should be packed in straw and placed near a chimney. 



Mr. Robinson — That sweet potatoes keep best in a moderate 

 temperature — cold, heat and moisture readily spoil them. 



Mr. Pardee — I find them keep best in baked sand and kept in 

 cellars. 



Mr. Robinson — In Carolina, they pile up the sweet potatoes 

 in pine straw — that is the leaf of the long leaved pitch pine with 



