352 



THE GARDENER'S ASSISTANT 



The process is very simple, and is essentially 

 the same whether provision is being made for 

 a dozen bottles or as many thousands. If the 

 fruit to be dealt with is gathered clean and dry 

 from the trees, and the bottles are in a similar 

 condition, no further preparation is required. 

 It can be placed at once in the bottles, and all 

 is ready for the final operation. A wide boiler 

 must be used sufficiently deep to hold water up 

 to the necks of the bottles, or about a foot in 

 depth, a convenient size of bottle being from 10 

 to 11 inches high, with the mouth 2 inches in 

 diameter. It is well to have a layer of canvas 

 or some similar material at the bottom of the 

 boiler, and this is equally useful between the 

 bottles, as it will assist in reducing the danger 

 of breakages. 



The fruit should be placed in the bottles, the 

 mouths of which should be left open. They are 



Fig. 1126.— Lee's Patent Fruit-bottling Apparatus, showing thermometer 

 (a) at side, and bottles placed iu boiler ready for heating. 



then placed in the boiler, which is filled with 

 water to the desired height, and then it must 

 be slowly raised to the boiling-point. As a rule, 

 by the time the water is boiling the fruit is suf- 

 ficiently cooked for keeping; it is not advisable 

 to overdo it, or when turned out for use subse- 

 quently it will be soft and flavourless. The form 

 of the fruit should be preserved, as if any of it 

 splits, or the skin of Plums is broken, its appear- 

 ance is spoiled and the selling value greatly 

 diminished. A kettle of boiling water must be 

 at hand, and as fast as the bottles are removed 

 from the fire they should be filled with this 

 water and immediately tied down with bladder, 

 or corked and sealed with common sealing-wax 

 or bottle-wax, in such a manner as to effectually 

 prevent the admission of air; the fruit will then 

 keep for a year or more. 



Several manufacturing firms have brought out 



simple, cheap appliances for bottling fruits on a 

 small scale. One of these is a round metal boiler 

 that will contain about a dozen bottles at a 

 time, and is adapted for use on an ordinary stove 

 or fire. This is sold with two dozen patent 

 bottles at as low as 35s., the bottles themselves 

 being fitted with metallic tops, which are secured 

 by spring clips that are easily removed and re- 

 placed though they answer all the purposes of 

 an air-tight cork or bladder top. In some of 

 these apparatus a kettle is connected with the 

 side, and steam thus takes the place of a direct 

 application of heat from a fire. Whatever method 

 is adopted the essential part of the business is 

 that the boiling should not be done too rapidly, 

 and the more gradually it is done within reason 

 the more likely is the fruit to retain its form, 

 colour, and flavour, so that when required for 

 use it should as nearly as possible resemble the 

 fresh product. 



Fruit Evaporating or Drying. — As regards its 

 economic bearing upon the fruit culture of other 

 countries, but especially in America, Germany, 

 and France, the process of preserving fruits by 

 evaporating or drying is by far the most im- 

 portant and extensive. In Great Britain at 

 present it has only been tried in an experi- 

 mental or tentative manner, but some have 

 already proved that it can be utilized to good 

 purpose, and there is an increasing demand for 

 information of a reliable character, i.e. that re- 

 sulting from experience. The Royal Agricul- 

 tural Society and the Royal Horticultural 

 Society have endeavoured to draw attention to 

 the matter in England, both by the institution 

 of experiments and by the publication of reports. 

 Individual experimenters and a few firms have 

 also taken up the work, and evidence is now 

 accumulating bearing upon the possibility of 

 making the operation profitable in this country. 



A few years ago Mr. D. Pidgeon contributed 

 a report to the Journal of the Royal Agricul- 

 tural Society, which summarized the case as re- 

 gards the United States, and it is interesting to 

 compare what he says with the conditions that 

 prevail in Great Britain: — "Why is the British 

 farmer so slow and his transatlantic cousin and 

 competitor so quick in adapting himself to 

 altered conditions of cultivation? The entry 

 of the Great West in the character of a wheat- 

 grower upon the agricultural stage of the world 

 created a depression in the agriculture of the 

 Eastern States of America, no less marked than 

 that which followed from the same cause in 

 England. New England no more than Old 

 England could after that entry any longer 



