368 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ May 4, 1893. 
Judging from bottled fruit and vegetables now on sale this 
branch of the work is well understood, flavour, colour, and 
freshness being alike of remarkable excellence. Careful corking, 
sealing with melted resin, and the use of a thin metallic capsule, 
is the general method for air-exclusion. Some of the most 
delicious bottle Raspberries we hive tasted were preserved by a 
lady in Derbyshire. She boils 3 lbs. of loaf sugar in a quart of 
water till it is cl ar ; it is let cool, then 12 lbs. of the fruit is 
added, and the whole boiled together for two or three minutes, 
then put in warm bottles and tied down with bladder at once. 
She does Currants and Plums equally well, dividing the Plums 
and taking out the stones. 
In the United States of Americi this has long been regarded 
as an important and highly remunerative industry. Here is a 
description of how they work, as given by Mr. Charles White- 
head:—A canning factory is provided with apparatus and 
machinery necessary for paring, coring, and stoning fruit. It 
is furnished with large tanks heated by steam for b iling fruit 
and vegetables. The process is as follows :—The fruit in the 
case of Apples, Peaches, and Pears is pared, cored, and washed 
in troughs in which there is clear water. It ie then plac d as 
tightly as possible into the cans. Plums are rapidly stoned by 
machinery and put closely into the cans. Then the cans are 
marked with the class of fruit in them, and are arranged in racks 
holding many dozens, placed upon trucks and carried to a tank 
of syrup from which each can is filled. At this juncture caps, 
or metal coverings, are soldered on by means of a clever machine 
which works most rapidly. A tiny hole is left in the centre of 
each cap. The truck with the cans is moved forward to a tank 
containing boiling water, in which the racks of cans lifted 
from the trucks are placed and kept, for spaces of time varying 
with the kind of fruit. It should be mentioned here that the 
hole left in the cap is so small that no water gets in and no 
syrup comes out. After the boiling the racks of cans are re¬ 
placed on the truck and passed on to a station where the holes 
in the caps are stopped with solder. Again the cans are put 
into boiling water for a few minutes to destroy any germs 
within that might cause fermentation. They are then labelled 
and packed for delivery. 
Syrup is added just in sufficient quan'ities to make the fruit 
pleasant to the taste, and not with any idea of preserving it. 
To Pears and Apples from 5 to 6 ozs. are given per quart can ; 
to Peaches and Apricots from 3 to 4 ozs. per quart can ; Goose¬ 
berries, Currants, Blackben-ies, Cherries, and Plums take from 
6 to 7 ozs. per quart can. 
With regard to vegetables the same process is adopted, but 
of c urse no sugar is added, and the cans are filled two-thirds 
full of water. The vegetab’es are prepared as for cooking, and 
they must be boiled much longer than fruits. Tomatoes are 
canned most extensively, and letain their fine flavour and 
agreeable qualities for long periods. Green Peas, French Beans, 
Asparagus, and young Carrots are peculiarly suited for this 
process. 
As we explained list October, glass jars have very generally 
taken the place of tin cans in the United States. They vary 
in capacity Horn a pint to two quarts, have simply a neck 
flange, rubber ring, and screw top, which makes them quite air¬ 
tight. Tin cans are regarded with suspicion from their tendency 
to render the preserved fruit or vegetables unwholesome by the 
acids which they contain acting upon the metal. Glass jars do 
not impart any flavour or taint to their contents if well washed, 
and are useable again and again. Fruit or vegetables are boiled 
till done, say ten minutes for any of the soft fruits, upwards 
to twenty minutes or two or three limes as long for Apples and 
Pears. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Lambs are beiug pushed on by trough feeding whether they are 
intended for sale in June or as hoggets at from twelve to fifteen months 
old. They are compact, thrifty eross-hreds, which answer well under 
really good management, and are still profitable, but profits with lambs 
as well as everything else in farming become less every year under the 
persistent foreign competition, which has and will have to be met as best 
we can. Unquestionably the best way is to select well, breed well, feed 
well, and sell well. Breed your own stock, grow your own food, and be 
your own salesman. It is noteworthy that while sheep and cattle of the 
ordinary inferior market type fell steadily in price last year, the price of 
the best quality was well maintained. Mueh money has undoubtedly 
been made under the depression by those farmers who breed for quality 
to keep a large high class stock, to grow what corn was possible, to con¬ 
sume the whole of it, to supplement the home supply when necessary 
with purchased cheap foreign corn, avoiding cake bills altogether. One 
of the most prosperous men known to us in farming is a yeoman farmer 
who has kept most of his home farm in plough because of the demand 
for and high price of straw in his locality, owing to the fact of most of 
the farms being entirely in grass. He rears and feeds much good stock, 
hiring grass land when necessary, and is evidently prosperous because he 
is a keen man of business as well as a good farmer. 
Since tbe advent of the locomotive steam thrashing machine large 
barns for corn thrashing have ceased to be a necessity. Many a barn 
have we turned into most healthy comfortable quarters for cattle. A 
barn may be made to serve all the purposes of a covered yard, it may 
do more, for with plenty of air shafts for ventilation a good substantial 
upper floor answers admirably for storing and cleaning corn. We 
mention this now the cows and store cattle are going out of yards, and 
attention is being given to any possibility of improved accommodation 
for another winter. Let this be seen to as soon as the manure is 
cleared out, and yards and buildings set in order before the hurry of 
haymaking and harvest is upon us. Should the weather prove cold and 
wet in late summer and autumn plenty of shelter may prove of material 
advantage for the live stock. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Prickly Comfrey (ff. F. U).—Alter giving this crop a fair trial, 
we found it practically worthless in comparison with such other fodder 
crops as Rye, Rye Grass, mixed seeds, Sainfoin, Red ana White Clover, 
Trifolium incarnatum, and Lucerne, so that our culture of it never got 
beyond a trial. Most or all of the green crops mentioned should answer 
with you. Do not forget our advice to grow as much Green Maize as 
your cattle can con.sume before frost sets in. Sow early in June, and 
have a sharp outlook kept for rooks, or they will have all the seed. 
Bottling' Pruit and Vegetables (N. J. A .').—The glass jars 
mentioned in our article on this subject on October 27tb, 1892, are those 
in use in the United States of America, where they now have preference 
to the tin cans long used in that country. They have a rubber ring or 
flange, and screw top for the exclusion of air. We cannot say where 
they can * e had in this country, but have no doubt a prompt supply 
will be forthcDming in response to any demand for them frori any large 
dealers in such ware. It is obvious that vegetables preserved in cans or 
glass jars require more boiling than the softer fruits. Evaporated fruit 
and vegetables simply have the water driven off, and are preserved in a 
dry state. Canned or bottled fruit and vegetables are boiled and 
preserved in a cooked condition. That this process is well understood in 
this country we are convinced, from the excellent examples of bottle 
fruits now to be had from provision merchants at a very low price. We 
have recently had at table excellent Plums, Damsons, Raspberries, acd 
Currants ; also what are sold as Yorkshire Marrowfat Peas, which were 
delicious both in tenderness and flavour. Such vegetables are indeed a 
boon in winter, and the price (8d. per bottle) appears to us to be 
reasonable. They should be preserved when in the best condition for 
current use. This subject is more fully dealt with in our home farm 
article this week. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
O-iMDEN Square. London. 
Lat. 51° 32' 40" N.: Long. 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet 
Date. 
9 A.M. 
In the Day. 
Rain. 
1893. 
April. 
1 Barometer 
1 at 32°, and 
1 Sea Level. 
Hygrometer. 
Direc¬ 
tion of 
Wind. 
Temp, 
of soil 
at 
1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun. 
On 
Grass. 
Inchs. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
Inchs. 
Sunday .. 
23 
30045 
57-7 
51-1 
N.E. 
51-8 
74-0 
43-7 
102-0 
37-6 
— 
Monday .. 
24 
a)'053 
59-0 
61-7 
N.E. 
51-9 
77-8 
43-7 
114-1 
37-3 
Tuesday .. 
25 
30047 
60-0 
51-3 
N.E. 
52-9 
76-4 
45-4 
117 8 
33-4 
_ 
Wednesday 
26 
30-055 
58-7 
47-4 
N.E. 
53-6 
74-2 
44-1 
115 9 
36-9 
Thursday.. 
27 
30-040 
47-7 
45-0 
N.E. 
53*9 
63 7 
42-9 
103-9 
40-2 
— 
Friday 
28 
29-976 
50-3 
46-3 
N.E. 
63-4 
68-2 
41-2 
106-8 
31-2 
Saturday .. 
29 
29-958 
55-2 
48-9 
N.W. 
53-8 
65-3 
47-2 
93-7 
43-7 
— 
30-026 
55-5 
43 8 
53-0 
71-4 
44 0 
107-7 
33 3 
— 
REMARKS. 
23rd.—Almost cloudless throughout. 
24th.—Almost cloudless throughout. 
2.5th.—Bright sunshine all day. 
26th.—Cloudless till late evening. 
27th.—Overc.ast till 10 A.M.; bright sun after 11 A.M.; cloudless afternoon and evening. 
28th.—Overcast early ; bright sunshine from 9 A.M. to 3 P.M., when it clouded over and 
remained overcast. 
29th.—Overcast till8.30 A.M., bright sunshine after, occasional cloud in afternoon, and 
spots of rain between 9 and 10 p.m. 
Another warm, dry, and rainless week with very little cloud.—G. J. SvuoK.S. 
