554 



The Nation's Fruit and Vegetables. 



[Sept., 



THE NATION'S FRUIT AND 

 VEGETABLES : 



PKOBLEMS OF PEE SERV ATION . 

 S. L. Ben stjsan. 



In the old days, when every country town or village was by 

 way of being a self-supporting unit, when rail transport was 

 scarcely known and the still room was yet an adjunct of every 

 well-kept country house, it seems likely that there was little or 

 no waste of fruit, flowers, or vegetables. The amount of produce 

 that was likely to be consumed was well known, and at the same 

 time there was a spirit of healthy competition among housewives, 

 who regarded their special methods of making preserves, pickles, 

 jellies, perfumes and simple medicaments as the best possible 

 methods, greatly superior to those practised by their neighbours. 



What a wonderful array of home-made produce the old-time 

 country house could command ! From a diary more than a century 

 old, the writer has taken the following list of dainties made in a 

 country house that stood some twelve miles from the Bank of 

 England. The house has gone long since; a drapery store has 

 usurped its place, lines of slate roofed villas stand on what were 

 once secluded gardens, and electric trams rumble along where 

 an orchard supplied most of the raw material for still room and 

 kitchen. But the diary with its discoloured pages and rather 

 angular, faded writing, still remains to tell the story of the 

 Chatelaine's work and the results. Here are the good things 

 mentioned in the diary as being made in the years when Mr. Pitt 

 gave instructions that the map of Europe should be rolled up 

 as it would not be wanted for many a day to come : — 



Mallow Pates. Cowslip Wine. Crab-apple Jelly. 



Elder Wine. Dandelion W T ine. "Barberry Jelly. 



Elder Jelly. Gooseberry Wine. Quince Jelly. 



Elder Flower Water. Wild Cherry Liqueur. Cranberry Jelly. 



Lavender Water. Black Currant Gin Bullace Jelly. 



Gilly Flower Water. Sloe Gin. Blackberry Jelly. 



Parsnip Wine. Sloe Tea. Conserve of Wild 



Rhubarb Wine. Marigold Tea. Strawberry. 



Wild Rose Wine. Apple Bread. Damson Cheese. 



With the growth of transport and the development of small 

 towns into big ones, with the coming of the factory and the com- 

 pulsion it exercised upon the lives of men and women, the small 

 markets ceased to be small, and home-made produce fell from its 

 high estate. The era of mass production had opened. Transport 

 developed by road and rail, growing in utterly haphazard fashion 



