262 



November, 1913 



sale, at medium prices it can stand 

 on its palatability plus its food 

 value, and at low prices it can 

 stand solidly on its food value 

 alone. Put in another way, any 

 average fruit or vegetable at 6d. a 

 11). 16 a very pleasant, very 

 healthful, but verv expensive source 

 of nutriment as compared with 

 meat ; at 4d. they are prol)ablv 

 equal to bread in food value with 

 some advantages thrown In it, 

 and at 2d. a lb. they are a rea- 

 sonably cheap source, and at id. 

 they are very cheap. 



— The Remedy. — 

 If Dr. Iknjafield is correct in his 

 estimate of the proportions the 

 fruitgrower and the fruit seller re- 

 ceive of the consumers' money, the 

 further the grower can get in the 

 direction of lessening the cost of 

 distribution the further he gets to 

 popularizing the practice of fruit 

 eating. The position is that 

 though the grower does not get 

 more than he earns and sometimes 

 perhaps not enough, the consumer 

 has to pay too much. The grower 

 has it in his own hands, he must 

 grow more cheap fruit, he must 

 be his own middleman on co-oper- 

 ative lines and be must create and 

 foster demand by looking to it 

 that the supi^ly and distribution 

 end is fixed up on the most eco- 

 nomical lines and before all that 

 the sui)plv is constant as far as 

 season , and climate permit. We 

 look to such methods as more 

 likelv to lead to the fruitgrowers 

 and fruit-eaters millenium, when 

 fruit at every table three times a 

 day for 365 days in the year shall 

 be the rule, than to get Govern- 

 ment assistance or the most en- 

 tertaining of cookery books, excel- 

 lent as both these incidents of mo- 

 dern life imdoubtedly are. 



♦ 



Small doses of aconite aUcrnat- 

 ed with belladonna are reeomimnd- 

 ed as a preventive of milk fever. 

 Commence immediately after calv- 

 ing, ten drops of the latter tinc- 

 ture every four hours till four 

 doses of each drug had been 

 given. 



Canning. 



In America the canning of fruit 

 for hom« and market use is very 

 largely adopted. The dried pro- 

 duct not having found as much 

 favour as with us. A writer 

 in a recent issue of " Wisconsin 

 Horticulture," describes the theory 

 and processes of the operation as 

 follows : — 



The principle underlying the pre- 

 serving of canned goods is simple. 

 It was earl}^ in 1800 that a French- 

 man named Appert discovered that 

 by thoroughly cooking a fruit or 

 vegetable that had first been 

 placed in a hermetically sealed ves- 

 sel, it could be preserved for a long 

 period of time. The idea was to 

 exclude the oxygen, which be re- 

 garded as the cause of decay. His 

 practice was correct though based 

 upon an erroneous theory. 



To the French scientist, Pasteur, 

 is due the credit of discovering the 

 cause of fermentation and decay, 

 nainely, the presence of bacteria 

 and other micro-organisms. 



The steps required to bring 

 about the preservation of canned 

 goods differ with each crop. In 

 general fruits and vegetables with 

 a high percentage of nitrogen, such 

 as peas, are the most unstable and 

 require the greatest caPe in can- 

 ning. On the other hand acid 

 fruits, such as tomatoes -and rhu- 

 barb, are easy to handle, the 

 presence of 'an acid assisting in 

 preserving the vegetable. 



The're are no hidden secrets in 

 canning, the problem is simply 

 that of sterilization for the des- 

 truction of the bacteria by, beat- 

 ing and the use of hermetically 

 sealed vessels to maintain this 

 condition. Generally speaking the 

 contents at the centre of the can 

 must be brought to a temperature 

 of i»5 degrees F. for a given 

 period of time. The time required 

 to do this varies according to the 

 cro]) and si/.e of the can. Corn, 



for example, is a poor conductor 

 of heat, and it will often require a 

 full hour to reach a temperature at 

 the centre of the can that can be 

 secured in fifteen minutes with 

 tomatoes. 



There are a number of farm 

 canners offered on the market. 

 The fundamental feature of all of 

 them is the sterilizing chamber. 

 Water boils in the open air at 212 

 degrees F. At a given altitude, 

 no matter how long it is heated, 

 it never goes above this tempera- 

 ture. However, if it is confined 

 in a closed vessel, it soon reaches 

 a much higber temperature. In 

 other words, in order to secure 

 the high temperature necessary 

 for sterilization the chamber must 

 be a closed retort. 



Again if we add sugar or any 

 other substance that increases the 

 dentisty of tht water, the tem- 

 perature of an open vessel can 

 be brought to 250 or more de- 

 grees. Every housewife knows 

 that preserving is one of 'the 

 simplest and most successful me- 

 thods of canning fruit. Here she 

 is able to secure a higher tem- 

 perature by the means of a denser 

 liquid. 



The first step in the canning 

 process proper is known as blanch- 

 ing. This consists in plunging the 

 fruit or vegetable into boiling 

 water for from one to three min- 

 utes, the object being to remove 

 certain complex chemicals known 

 as enzimes. These enzimes do not 

 cause the fruit to decay, but they 

 gradually digest or break down 

 the fibrous tissue, leaving a musy 

 mass ; hence this sort of parboil- 

 ing process to remove them. 



The next step is the cooking or 

 sterilizing — and the length of time 

 and temperature required for this 

 varies with each crop. 



Following the cooking comes the 

 cooling process. Unless immedi- 

 ately cooled many products will 

 continue to cook for hours or even 

 weeks after taking out of 'the 

 chamber, somewhat on the prin- 

 ciple of a fireless cooker. In one 

 instance, for example, a large 

 quantity of cocn was stored in a 

 room', and it was discovered some 

 three months later that many of 

 the cans toward the centre of the 

 stack were still warm and it is 

 needless to add that; that bunch of 

 corn was cooked to a finish. 

 To avoid over-cooking, the tins 

 are immediately cooled 'either by 

 plunging or spraying with cold 

 water. 



The clo.sing of the small steam 

 hole in the centre of the top is 



ALBERT O. PIKE, 



(Late GAMEAU BROTHERS. 



Clairville INursery, Hectorville. 



All kinds of fruit trees for sale, Citrus trees, I/emons and Oranges a 

 speciality. Send for illustrated Catalogue. 



Telegraphic .Address— Pike, Hectorville, Payneham. Telephone— Cen- 

 tral 2768. 



