CHAPTER XXV 



WHOLE -FRUIT PRESERVATION 



By S. ponder {Confectioner to Her Late Majesty Queen Victoria) 



There are many owners of gardens who, during summer and autumn, have 

 surplus fruits — peaches, nectarines, apricots, cherries, and pears — which they 

 would like to preserve for winter and spring use. In this chapter is detailed a 

 method practised by me for many years with invariable success. In all cases the 

 fruit to be preserved must be gathered before it is quite ripe, and the greatest care 

 observed in handling it, so as not to bruise it, for every mark will show in the 

 preserved fruit. 



Peach and Nectarine. — Have ready as many large-mouthed bottles as are 

 required, taking care that they are perfectly clean and dry. Cut the fruit into 

 halves or quarters, according to size ; place them in the bottle with the aid of a 

 piece of flat wood or the handle of a tablespoon, having previously peeled the 

 skin off carefully. Have some syrup ready, which must be applied cold. This 

 is prepared as follows : To one pound of loaf-sugar add one pint of cold water ; 

 place on the gas-stove or fire, and boil gently for ten or fifteen minutes, skimming 

 the scum off" as it rises to the surface ; draw the pan ofi^the fire and set in a cool 

 place until cold. Have some well-cut corks ready that will fit tightly. Pour the 

 syrup on the fruit so as to cover it, but only up to the lower part of the neck of 

 the bottle, allowing a space of about \\ inch between the syrup and cork after 



Propagation by "Eyes" and Cuttings 



Eyes, ok One-Bud Cuttings. — f. Portion of a vine cane marked for cutting into "eyes," or bud 

 cuttings ; (/) wedge-shaped ; [k) transverse cut above and below eye ; (/) triangular one-bud cutting ; 

 [in) vine cut transversely above, wedge-shaped below; [n) vine eye cut transversely above and below ; 

 \o) vine eye cut from the back upwards and downwards, forming a triangle. G. Vine eyes properly 

 inserted and growing ; {p) the wedge-shaped, rooting from old wood with great freedom and growing 

 strongly ; [q] transversely cut above and below bud, such usually forming spreading roots ; [r) triangular 

 bud, with roots forming freely. Eye, or one-bud cuttings of the fig are prepared in a similar way, 

 the wedge-shaped being the best. 



Cuttings of Various Forms (those of Currants and Gooseberries are shown in the Chapters deal- 

 ing with these Fruits). — H. Apple, blackberry, fig, mulberry, and vine ; [s) cutting of apple, a well- 

 ripened shoot of the previous summer's growth taken off the branch from which the cutting springs, 

 with a heel or piece of the branch. The buds are removed from the part intended to be inserted in the 

 soil, which should be about 6 inches or two-thirds of the length of the cutting, shorten it, if long, to two 

 or three buds above the soil, roots are formed from the heel of the two-year-old wood ; [t) cutting of 

 blackberry root about J to § inch in diameter, and 2 inches in length, planted nearly horizontally and 

 I to 2 inches deep in loose, rich soil ; (u) cutting of fig with a heel, roots are formed from the latter and 

 from joints ; {v) cutting of mulberry, with portion of two-year-old wood ; [w] cutting of vine with 

 three joints, inserted to the base of the highest bud, roots form at the base and between the joints. 

 Great care is needed to cut out all buds on parts below the soil, except with the blackberry root- 

 cutting. 



279 



