346 
THE GARDENER’S ASSISTANT. 
A Whole fruits (1-3-4). 
B Fruit pulp (1-2). 
C Sliced fruits (5-6-7); 
D Fruit juices (8-9). 
Jam-making .—This constitutes the most ex¬ 
tensively adopted method of dealing with fruits 
both for home use and in British factories, and 
many thousands of tons are produced annually 
to meet the general demand. It is especially 
adapted for all the soft fruits, such as Straw¬ 
berries, Gooseberries, Black and Red Currants, 
together with such stone-fruits as Plums and 
Apricots, and it is the most satisfactory means 
of dealing with these fruits immediately they 
are gathered. The method is essential wherever 
large supplies have to be utilized quickly to 
avoid loss, and it is equally necessary in small 
establishments, because, with Strawberries par¬ 
ticularly, a large proportion of the crop is often 
ready for gathering at one time, being influenced 
by the weather conditions. As soon as the de¬ 
mand for the fruit in a fresh state is exceeded, 
there will either be a regrettable waste or jam¬ 
making must be resorted to promptly. 
Whether on a large or a small scale the prin¬ 
ciple is the same,The fruit must be subjected to 
heat sufficiently long to sterilize it, but not long 
enough to alter its character or impair the flavour 
or colour. With the aid of a due amount of 
sugar employed in addition (which may vary 
from a weight equal to that of the fresh fruit 
to half as much again) such jam, carefully pre¬ 
pared and secured in jars with air-tight coverings 
over the mouths, should remain good for an in¬ 
definite time, certainly until fresh fruit is again 
obtainable. 
On a small scale and for home use the opera¬ 
tion is both simple and inexpensive, while at 
the same time it is as effectual as that carried 
out in a factory. A wide shallow stew-pan of 
copper or bell-metal is the only essential utensil, 
which can be had in various sizes at proportionate 
prices, but the smaller ones can be had for a few 
shillings. One of these pans 14 inches in diameter 
and 6 inches deep will hold 20 lbs. of fruit and 
sugar, and with the help of such a vessel a little 
experience will enable anyone to produce 1 cwt. 
of good jam per day. This applies to any of 
the soft fruits which will not require more than 
twenty minutes or half an hour's exposure to 
the fire, but with stone fruits, which will need 
perhaps three-quarters of an hour, rather less 
could be prepared within the same time. A pan 
like that described is adapted for placing on an 
ordinary kitchen range, or it could be heated 
over an oil-stove, but the former is preferable, 
and where large ranges are available, two, three, 
or more of these pans could be heated at once, 
and it is quite possible without any special fac¬ 
tory to produce a quarter 
of a ton of jam a day, or 
two to three tons in a 
week, which would suffice 
for most of the smaller fruit¬ 
growing establishments. 
Where considerable 
quantities of fruit are con¬ 
verted into jam as a regu¬ 
lar part of the business it is 
more convenient and eco¬ 
nomical to erect a building for the purpose, 
which need not be of a pretentious or costly 
character. Larger pans are then employed, 
which will hold from half to a hundredweight 
of fruit; they are double-cased and connected by 
pipes with a boiler so that a constant supply of 
steam is maintained at a high temperature 
immediately under and around the fruit. The 
advantage of this method is that the boiling 
is done rapidly, and there is not the danger of 
burning, which has to be avoided when the pre¬ 
paration is done over an ordinary fire. 
An idea can be formed of the routine work in 
a large preserving establishment where the fruit 
is grown, from the following particulars of an 
extensive factory. The fruit is gathered in 
the early hours of the morning, when dry, by a 
number of women who come from the neigh¬ 
bouring country, and who are glad to have the 
opportunity of obtaining labour in the open air. 
At 8 a.m. the factory work-people arrive from 
the surrounding villages, the total number of 
hands in the height of the season being about 
five hundred. Those from a distance are lodged 
on the plantations. The hour for the first de¬ 
livery of fruit to arrive at the factory is 8 a.m. 
This may consist of Strawberries, Red or Black 
Currants, and Raspberries, which are picked 
free from the stalks on the plantations, and are 
ready therefore at once for the boiling-pans, 
Fig. 1119.-—Copper Preserving Pan, Fig. 1120.—Double Copper Preserving Pans with 
for home use. water space, for home use. 
