Agriculture is the most healthful , the most useful, and the most noble employment of man .— Washington. 
VOL. V. NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER, 1846. NO. IX. 
A. B. Allen, Editor. 
FRENCH MODE OF MAKING APPLE 
BUTTER. 
In France, a kind of jam, or apple butter, called 
raising compose, is prepared by boiling apples in 
Unfermented wine. The must or wine should be 
reduced by boiling to one-half of its bulk, to be 
continually skimmed as fresh scum arises, and 
afterwards strained through a cloth or a fine sieve. 
The apples are then pared, cut into quarters, and 
put into this liquor (raisine) and left to simmer 
gently over a fire, with a continual stirring with a 
wooden spatula or slice, till the apple becomes 
thoroughly amalgamated with the liquor, and the 
whole forms a kind of marmalade, which is ex¬ 
tremely agreeable to the taste. 
When prepared in the northern departments of 
France, the raisine, after the first boiling, skimming, 
and straining, is set in a cool place for twenty-four 
hours, when a saline liquor, like a scum, appears 
on the surface. This is removed, and the liquor 
strained, before it is mixed with the apples, as 
above. This scum consists principally of tartaric 
acid, which would spoil the raisine, and prevents it 
from keeping sweet, but which is not perceivable 
when the grapes, from which the wine is made, 
have been ripened in a southern climate. The 
raisine, when properly prepared, is sweet, but with 
a slight flavor of acidity, like lemon-juice mixed 
with honey. The best raisine is made in Bur¬ 
gundy. In Normandy, a similar marmalade is 
composed of cider and pears, much resembling the 
“ apple-buttery” or “ apple-sauce,” of the United 
States; but it is not so good as the raisini, being 
apt to ferment. In some cases, the pears are put 
into an earthen vessel without water, and placed in 
a baker’s oven, after the bread has been drawn, 
previously to mixing with water. 
The best raisine is considered very wholesome. 
Saxton & Miles, Publishers, 205 Broadway. 
particularly for children, who eat it spread on 
bread, and for persons in delicate health, whose 
stomachs will not bear butter. In Italy, the raisine 
is eaten with gnocc/ii and other preparations of In¬ 
dian corn, and with maccaroni, to give a flavor to 
these dishes. There is nothing better to make a 
dinner relish, and we would always have it, or 
apple, or cranberry sauce, if possible. 
PRESERVATION OF APPLES. 
Apples intended to be preserved for winter and 
spring use, should remain upon the trees until 
quite ripe, which usually takes place at the coming 
of the first heavy frosts. They should then be 
plucked from the trees by hand, in a fair day, and 
packed up immediately in casks, in alternate layers 
of dry sand, plaster, chaff, saw-dust, or bran, and 
conveyed to a cool, dry place, as soon as possible. 
The sand or saw-dust may be dried in the heat of 
summer, or may be baked in an oven at the lime 
required to be used. The peculiar advantages 
arising from packing apples in sand, are explained 
and commented upon as follows, by the late Mr. 
Webster, author of the “American Dictionary of the 
EnglishLanguage.” “ 1st, The sand keeps the apples 
from the air, which is essential to their preserva¬ 
tion ; 2d, The sand checks the evaporation or per¬ 
spiration of the apples, thus preserving in them 
their full flavor—at the same time any moisture 
yielded by the apples is absorbed by the sand—so 
that the apples are kept dry, and all mustiness is 
prevented My pippins, in May and June, are as 
fresh as when first picked. Even the ends of the 
stems look as if just separated from the twigs; 3d, 
The sand is equally a preservative from frost, rats, 
&c. But after the extreme heat of June takes 
place, all apples speedily lose their flavor, and 
become insipid.” 
