August, 1917 
203 
W I S C O 
A great deal might be said about 
home canning, in fact volumes of 
recipes etc., have been written but 
a few general principles may be 
of some benefit to the inexperienc- 
ed. 
The fruit should be prepared, so 
far as possible, most convenient for 
the consumer. Apples, pears and 
pine apples should be cored; cher- 
ries, plums, etc., pitted and the 
stones should be removed from the 
peaches thus eliminating many an 
embarassing situation as well as a 
worm, have the fruit trees not been 
properly sprayed. If one desires 
the fruit left whole, such as peach- 
es and pears a syrup of sugar and 
water should be made and the fruit 
put into the boiling syrup, 
Of course one may use the 
“boiling in the can” method if 
more effective results are desired. 
There is no set rule as to the 
amount of sugar necessary this 
must be governed by one’s person- 
al taste. Some fruits may be can- 
ned entirely without sugar, but 
no fruit should require more than 
a pound of sugar to a quart of can- 
ned fruit. The cans should be 
thoroughly sterilized immediately 
before they are used and slightly 
warm while fruit is being put in 
and no silver fork, no aluminum 
plate nor other foolish fancy is ne- 
cessary to prevent the can from 
cracking. 
Canned fruit should be stored 
in a dark cupboard or if this is not 
convenient it is well to fasten a 
piece of paper around each indi- 
vidual can. thus preserving the 
color of the fruit, this is particu- 
larly true of strawberries. Each 
can should be labeled as it is some- 
times difficult to tell the black rasp- 
berries from the black berries and 
blue berries, and should you wish 
John to bring a can of plums he 
would not favor you with pickled 
beets. 
nsin HORTICUL' 
The Housewife’s Opportunity 
One way American women may 
serve their country. 
The United States is at war with 
a nation which has the best organ- 
ized and equipped army the world 
has ever seen. Back of that army 
the people of Germany are likewise 
organized to a degree that to us is 
scarcely conceivable. 
Statesmen and military experts 
have announced in no uncertain 
terms that from now on the war is 
to be a struggle for supremacy in 
the production, conservation and 
distribution of food, rather than a 
contest of arms. 
On the advice of the President 
an d his councillors, hundreds of 
thousands of acres of land in the 
United States never before culti- 
vated are being used to swell the 
production of food. 
The experienced gardener is re- 
doubling his efforts, while a multi- 
tude of men, women and children, 
who have hitherto paid little or no 
attention to the tilling of the soil, 
are now planting and cultivating. 
The result of this unprecedented 
activity cannot fail to be the pro- 
duction of vegetables, berries anu 
fruit in vast quantities. These 
cannot be consumed as fast as they 
are gathered. On the women of 
the land will fall the tremendous 
task of storing up this great ex- 
cess. PRESERVE, DRY and 
CAN: Let these be the watch- 
words of the women of our coun- 
try! Over-production, without 
the ability to keep, will avail us 
nothing. 
The list of garden and orchard 
products which cannot be success- 
folly stored for future use is sur- 
prisingly small. Neither is the 
cost of preparation nearly as great 
as is generally presumed. The 
cost of sugar is now so great that I 
apprehend many women despair of 
' U R E 
being able to put up berries and 
fruits as they have heretofore. 
This cause of alarm is not well 
founded. The underlying secret 
of permanent canning and preserv- 
ing does not rest on the necessity 
of the presence of syrup, but on 
the destruction of every bacteria 
in the food to be put up and in the 
can and cover, by sterilization and 
sealing of the container absolutely 
against the air. 
A can which is not securely seal- 
ed, or whose contents has not been 
thoroughly freed from the pres- 
ence of bacteria, represents noth- 
ing but lost materials and wasted 
energies. 
At the request of the Wisconsin 
State Horticultural Society, I pre- 
pared samples of fifty-seven kinds 
of apple products capable of being 
put up for later use. Several oth- 
ers might have been added, how- 
ever, I felt that the apple had 
been sufficienlty vindicated as a 
worthy competitor in the field of 
advertised foods. 
With clean, sound fruit, clean 
jars, thorough sterilization and 
tight sealing, there is no reason 
why the women of the land may 
not save hundreds of thousands of 
bushels of apples that every year 
go to waste throughout the coun- 
try. Like care in the preparation 
of other fruits and berries may be 
also be the means of similar sav- 
ing, the value and volume of which 
will be a revelation. 
Thus, as I have demonstrated, 
the apple may be used to form the 
bulk of many products in combina- 
tion with other more expensive 
fruits and by this means affording 
a great variety of flavors at far 
less cost than where the other 
fruits are used exclusively. 
Mary Parker Morgan. 
