1864. 



THE ILLINOIS FAKMEK. 



m\ 



This method of keeping it should be encouraged . 

 till all understand and practice it, instead of wast 

 ing a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit, cooked to 

 an indigestible compound, in order te preserve it. 

 To say nothing of its superior flavor and healthi- 

 ness, the difference iu the cost of sugar in these 

 times is ii.n item worthy of some consideration. 



The whole secret of success lies in expelling all \ 

 the air contained in the pulp of the fmit, and then j 

 sealing hermetically to prevent its return. Glass | 

 bottles or jars are better than tin, as the fruit can ! 

 be inspected ;it all times ; and, in case of failure 

 to shut out all the air, the incipient stages of fer- 

 mentation can be detected, and the fruit used be- 

 fore it is entirely spoiled. Many of the patent 

 jars are very good, and but little trouble. Com- , 

 mon plain bottles with a good sized neck will an- ' 

 awer every purpose. 



A cement is made for sealing by melting and 

 stirring well together one pound of rosin and one 

 ounce of tall.jw. Instead of simply coating the 

 cork of the bottle with this — vvhich is frequently 

 enough — it is safer to make a paper cap one inch 

 deep, just a little larger than the top of the bottle, 

 into which is poured a spoonful of cement, and a 

 bottle ready corked is inverted directly into it, 

 and left standing until cold. Into the top, or ra- 

 ther bottom, of this cap should be put a piece of 

 paste-board, tin or thin piece of wood, cut to fit. 

 Patty pans, when they can be had, are very good 

 for this purpose, or any similar thing, even an old 

 saucer. To prevent breaking, the bottles should 

 be heated gradually. It will do to put them in 

 cold water and then bring it to a boil. Where 

 much is to be done, it is less trouble to heat by 

 steam. Have a vessel of tin or wood, sheet- 

 iron bottom, and three or four inches deeper than 

 the length of the bottle. They should stand on 

 some strips of wood to keep them oat of the wa- 

 ter, which may he two or three inches deep. A 

 close lid completes the steamer. 



AH kinds of fruit may be put into the bottles 

 cold, and sulficiently heated in them. But many 

 kinds are much quicker done by cooking in a 

 porcelain or clean brass kettle, and transfer boiling 

 hot into the cans through a tunnel. 



Rhubarb is the first thing in season to claim at- 

 tention. It should be stewed and the bottles filled 

 while hot. The cork should fit close, and as it is 

 pressed in all air bubbles should be excluded from 

 under it. Cut off even with the top, wipe dry, and 

 insert into the cup of cement, and leave to get 

 cold. If no cup of any kind to put it in can be j 

 had, the top must be dipped into the melted ce- ' 

 ment, and held in cold water to harden. This 

 should be repeated, unless the fir^^t coat is very 

 perfect. 



Strawberries come next. They should be just 

 ripe and fresh picked. Put them in whole, and 

 cover with sweetened water. Heat till they shrink 

 near one-half in size, when they are ready to seal 

 up. If the bottle lacks just a little of being full, 

 put in some hot water. Raspberries and black- 

 berries are put in the same way. Perhaps some 

 kinds will need less sugar —one pound to a quart 

 of water — and will not shrink quite so much. — 

 Cherries should have the pits removed, sugar add- 

 ed without water, scalded thoroughly, and then 

 put into the bottles and managed as the rhubarb. 

 Apples are also stewed ready for the table, bottled 

 and put away for next year. Peaches, pears, aad 

 sometimes tomatoes are cooked in the bo tics, in 



order to save the bottles whole. Tomatoes are 

 saved with the least expense of any fruit. They do 

 not require any thing added, not even salt. They 

 should be ripe ; scald and remove the skin, and 

 then stew before putting them into the bottles. 

 When the cooking commences they will swell out; 

 but after it is continued long enough they shrink 

 somewhat, when they Inay be put into the cans for 

 sealing. Tomntoes contain a great deal of juice, 

 and with proper care to prevent burning, much of 

 it may be evaporated before canning. The cellar 

 is the best place to keep it. 



Spading vs Plowing— Corn Culture. 



Within the p.ist ten years many attempts have 

 been made to introduce a machine to spade or fork 

 up the soil instead of plowing it in the usual way, 

 but until very recently without any practical re- 

 sults. It is well known that land spaded or forked 

 over always produces better crops than that plow- 

 ed .md otherwise put into as fine tilth, but the rea- 

 sons therefor have npt been so apparent. 



In the cultivation of winter wheat, the summer 

 fallow has been found of great value, and in the 

 culture of spring wheat, autumn plowing ; or the 

 sowing on the stubble of hoed crops without plow- 

 ing, has been e^sentiiil to success. No practical 

 faimer expects to giow a good crop of spring 

 wheat on land plowed in the spring ; and no one 

 expects a good crop of winter wheat on land that 

 has been cultivated in tobacco or a crop of worm- 

 wood ; nor would it be obtained from a meadow 

 that had been turned over to the depth of ten or 

 twelve inches by trench plowing; corn will not 

 grow well after buckwheat and but indifferently af- 

 ter potatoes. These facts have become patent to 

 most farmers from actual experience, while the 

 reasons therefor have not been well understood. 

 It cannot be that the spade more finely comminutes 

 the soil than the plow, harrow and roller ; and yet 

 we must concede that the crop is always better 

 that plants thrive more vigorously in the spaded 

 than in the plowed land. 



We know that the facts alluded to are stubborn 

 ones, and constant in their stubbornness, we may 

 therefore consider them as fixed and beyond hope 

 of change. 



W,hile spring wheat will not stand up and fill 

 out On spring plowed land, oats, on the contrary, 

 will make a good crop. Land for tobacco under- 

 goes a sort of summer fallow, the plants not being 

 set until the beginning of summer, having been 

 plowed early in spring and fully exposed to the at- 

 mosphere by subsequent stirrings. 



When we look over the list of plants, we can, by 

 the aid of the chemist, class them so as to know- 

 how tp treat them, or rather how to prepare the 

 soil for them. All plants containing much potash, 

 such as wheat, corn, barley, tobacco, etc., iequir« 

 the following treatment : 



OF POTASH. 



All clay and clay loam soils contain potash.^ 

 This is mixed in the soil, having once composed a 

 part of the lock from which the soil has been 

 formed. This potash when below the surface is in 

 a fixed state and insoluable in water, but by ex- 

 posure to the air becomes dissolved and is then in 

 a condition to unite with the soil {scli'ea) which 

 it dissolves, forming silicate of potash, {soluble 

 glass), which forms the coating of all the small 

 grains, the grasses and the stalks of corn. With- 

 out this coating these plants will not stand up and 



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