344 
THE GARDENER’S ASSISTANT. 
CHAPTER XXIY. 
FRUIT-PRESERVING. 
Advantages—Methods and Appliances — Jam-making 
— Jelly - making — Marmalade — Crystallizing 
and Glazing—Chotney—Bottling Whole Fruits 
— Fruit Evaporating or Drying—Canning—Mis¬ 
cellaneous Methods—Hardy Fruits—Apples— 
Jelly — Pears — Quinces — Stone-fruits—Plums— 
Apricots — Cherries—Peaches—Small Fruits— 
Strawberries — Raspberries — Blackberries — 
Red Currants—Black Currants—Gooseberries 
— Miscellaneous Fruits and Methods. 
Advantages. — One of the most important 
subjects connected with the cultivation and 
utilization of hardy fruits is that dealing with 
their preservation in a convenient form for use 
as food. Briefly summarized, the advantages of 
an extension of knowledge in this matter may 
be stated as follows:— 
1st. To prolong the season during which fruit 
is available for use in the home or for sale. 
2nd. To provide methods of utilizing the 
surplus produce in seasons of heavy crops. 
3rd. To enable the fruit-grower to convert 
waste or unsaleable fruits into a useful and 
marketable product. 
Wherever hardy fruit is grown on an exten¬ 
sive scale, it is essential that some provision be 
made for the purposes enumerated, and even 
when grown only to a moderate extent the 
matter demands some consideration. The whole 
subject is of great importance; in fact, the ulti¬ 
mate success of increased fruit-culture must 
depend mainly upon the attention that is paid 
to this department. It constitutes the key to 
several of the chief problems, for usually the 
difference between a profitable balance and ab¬ 
solute total loss is influenced bj' the care or 
neglect in making the most of all fruit produce, 
by means of the various methods of preser¬ 
vation. 
At the present time the waste of fruit in 
both large and small establishments is deplor¬ 
able in the extreme. A large proportion of this 
waste is either due to want of knowledge of 
methods that have proved satisfactory, or to 
ignoring them, under the impression that they 
are not adapted for genei’al use in this country. 
In the “ gluts ” which occur periodically, espe¬ 
cially with stone fruits, when the market prices 
are depressed to a point that will not cover the 
cost of gathering and carriage, many tons of 
good fruits are allowed to fall and rot on the 
ground. At the same time, every year enor¬ 
mous quantities of similar fruits, preserved in 
different ways, are imported into Great Britain, 
and find a ready market. From one of the recent 
Board of Trade returns we learn that over ninety 
million pounds of preserved fruits and vege¬ 
tables were imported in 1899, a large proportion 
of which consisted of products that could have 
been profitably prepared in this country. 
As regards fruits preserved as jam or bottled 
whole, British manufacturers hold their position 
satisfactorily, and some of the larger jam firms 
export to the colonies and other countries. In 
the processes of drying or canning, and in the 
utilization of otherwise waste fruits, American 
and Continental competitors have taken the 
lead, and developed an enormous industry. In 
the United States, where the advance within 
recent years has been most marked, the work 
was practically commenced by the efforts of 
individual fruit-growers to provide an outlet 
for surplus or waste. For a considerable period 
the main supplies were thus produced, and 
necessarily resulted in a great variety of brands 
and styles of preparation, which were confusing 
and objectionable to large buyers. As soon as 
it was found, however, that a demand existed 
for good samples of dried or canned fruits, 
factories were established, which in some cases 
have now assumed wonderful proportions, and 
the trade passed from the fruit-grower to another 
class of men who were dealers or preservers 
simply. 
Mr. F. A. Waugh, in a recent work on Fruit 
Harvesting, has the following remarks on this 
subject, which illustrate the advance in the 
business: — “Formerly the home manufacture 
of dried Apples, &c., was common in all the 
farming districts of the United States — at least 
in the north — and home-dried fruit was to some 
extent an article of importance in the country 
stores. That day has passed. Home-dried 
Apples and Peaches went out with home-knit 
socks and home-made soap. There are still 
families who dry their own Apples, just as 
there are some who still make soap and knit 
socks; but for the most part these have all 
been given up. The change has been the same 
in all cases, and has resulted from the same 
causes. It is cheaper to buy soap than to make 
it, and it is equally easier to buy dried fruit 
than to dry it one’s self. It is a question of 
division of labour. The man, or the stock 
company, that makes a business of drying fruits 
on a large scale can do the work to greater 
advantage than the farmer or the farmer’s wife. 
His product is more uniform, better in appear¬ 
ance, and perhaps better in quality than the 
