136 
DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 
The month of September is the month for preserving 
fruits, &c. and for the benefit of our lady readers, who 
wish to furnish for their tables a supply of fashionable 
sweetmeats, pickles, &c. we devote this chapter of our 
Domestic Economy, to those subjects exclusively. 
Where the fruits to be preserved are very delicate, or 
sweetmeats of a superior quality are desired, white or loaf 
sugar will be best; but for most kinds of fruit, or ordinary 
preserves, good brown, or maple sugar, will do very 
well. Brown sugar requires clarifying or cleansing, which 
is done by dissolving it in a small quantity of water with 
a gentle heat, then, after cooling, stirring in the whites of 
eggs well beaten, and gradually heating the syrup until all 
the impurities rise to the surface, when they are to be skim¬ 
med off, and the clarified syrup left pure for preserves. 
Any kind of fire proof ware will do for the making of 
preserves, with the exception of iron ; but as most of the 
fruits used contain more or less acid, brass or copper ves¬ 
sels tinned are the best. In no case should they be allow¬ 
ed to stand in any such vessel to cool, as injurious conse¬ 
quences might ensue. Stone, or china, or glass, make the 
best vessels for depositing sweetmeats in; as they furnish 
nothing injurious for the acids to act upon. After preserves 
are made, the pots must be covered close, kept in a cool 
place, frequently looked to, and if about to ferment, let the 
syrup be poured off, scalded, and returned to them while 
hot. A paper wet in good brandy, and laid on the surface 
of the sweetmeats, will assist much in their preservation. 
As a general rule, a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit is 
sufficient; but some kinds of fruit require more, and others 
will do with less than an equal quantity, according to its 
ripeness or the acid it contains. 
Pears. —When made into preserves this fruit requires 
three quarters of a pound of sugar to a pound of pears. 
Syrup made as directed from brown sugar is good. Put 
the pears in the syrup and boil them till soft. The astrin¬ 
gent or choak pears are good for preserving. A little gin¬ 
ger tied in a bag and boiled with the fruit improves their 
flavor, or lemon, or orange, sliced, may be added at plea¬ 
sure. To make Pear marmalade , boil the pears with the 
skins on; when soft rub them through a sieve, and put to 
each pound of pulp three fourths of a pound of sugar. 
Stew it slowly till it is a thick jelly. Marmalades must be 
stirred constantly, or they burn on the kettle. 
Quince. —This fruit makes the best of preserves, and 
one the least injurious to health. Pare and cut the fruit in 
slices an inch thick, taking out the cores carefully, so that 
the slices remain in the form of a ring. One pound of 
sugar is required for a pound of fruit, and white sugar is 
to be preferred. Dissolve the sugar in cold water, a quart 
to a pound, put in the sliced quinces and let them remain 
half a day. They are then put over a slow fire, and boiled 
gently, always having sufficient syrup to cover the quinces. 
When a small splinter will go through them easily, they 
are done, and are to be turned out. In about a week turn 
off the syrup and boil it down, so that there will be just 
enough to cover the fruit. They must be ripe, to preserve 
good in this way. The parings and cores of quinces are 
used for marvialade, which is made by stewing them in a 
small quantity of water over a fire till soft, then rubbing 
them through a seive, and adding to each pound of 
strained quince a pound of sugar. Put the vessel on a few 
coals, and stir constantly for one hour. When cold, it cuts 
smooth if sufficiently stewed, making a jelly of the richest 
kind. 
Plums —This fruit requires equal weights of sugar and 
fruit. Boil the plums slowly in the syrup for ten minutes; 
turn them in a dish and let them remain four or five days; 
then boil again till the syrup appears to have penetrated 
the plums fully. Put them in jars, and in about a week 
turn off the syrup, scald it carefully, and return it while 
hot. 
Apples. —Tart mellow apples are the best for preserves, 
and they must be pared and the cores taken out with a 
small kinfe. Three fourths of a pound of sugar, a tea 
spoonful of ginger tied in a bag, and water to cover the 
apples, is allowed to a pound of fruit. The apples must 
be put into the prepared syrup when it is lukewarm; boil 
them till they are transparent; and when taken up and 
partly cooled, put in a little essence of lemon. In a week 
turn off the syrup, boil it, and return it hot to the fruit. 
The Siberian crab apple makes a superior sweetmeat, pre¬ 
served as above, whole and without paring. 
Barberries.— Barberries preserved, approach in their 
qualities the nearest to the East Indian tamarinds, and like 
them, are frequently found useful in fevers. The fruit 
should be fully ripe and allowed to remain on the stems. 
The syrup must be rich, using as much sugar as fruit; 
when made, and lukewarm, put in the barberries and boil 
them till they appear penetrated by the syrup. An orange 
sliced is thought by some to improve the flavor. 
Tomatoes. —An “ experienced lady,” gives the follow¬ 
ing directions for preserving this fruit. “ Take them while 
quite small and green—put them in cold clarified syrup, 
with an orange cut in slices to every two pounds of tomatoes. 
Simmer them gently over a slow fire for two or three hours. 
There should be equal weights of sugar and tomatoes. If 
very superior preserves are wanted, allow two fresh lemons 
to three pounds of tomatoes, pare thin the rind of the le¬ 
mons, so as to get none of the white part, squeeze out the 
juice, mix the parings, juice and cold water sufficient to 
cover the tomatoes, and put in a few peach leaves, and 
powdered ginger tied up in bags. Boil the whole gently 
for three fourths of an hour—take up the tomatoes, strain 
the liquor, and put to it a pound and a half of white su- 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
gar for each pound of tomatoes. Put in the tomatoes and 
boil them gently till the syrup appears to have entered 
them. In the course of a week turn the syrup from them, 
heat it scalding hot, and turn it on the tomatoes. Prepar¬ 
ed in this way, they resemble West Indian sweetmeats.” 
Water Melon Rinds. —The rind of a good ripe, wa¬ 
ter melon cut into small strips, and boiled in water till ten¬ 
der, with a tea spoonful of saleratus, and a dozen peach 
leaves to two quarts of water. The rinds are then to be 
taken out, and soaked in alum water an hour. For the 
syrup, allow as much sugar as rind. Put the rinds in the 
syrup while cool, with ginger tied in a bag. Boil till the 
1 mds are soft, and when partly cooled, add some essence of 
lemon. In the course of two or three days, take out the 
ginger, turn off the syrup, and boil it till there is just 
enough to cover the rinds; return it to them while hot. 
Pickling— general directions. —Brass should be used 
for vessels in the process; thoroughly cleansed before using, 
and no vinegar allowed to cool in them. This precaution 
is necessary to prevent the formation of verdigris, an ac¬ 
tive poison. Boil alum and salt in the vinegar, in propor¬ 
tion of half a tea cup of salt and a table spoonful of alum 
to i,hree gallons of vinegar. Vessels that have any grease 
about them will not do for pickles. Stone and wood are 
the only proper materials in which to keep pickles when 
made. All pickles should be stirred up occasionally. 
When any scum rises, the vinegar needs scalding. Pick¬ 
les may be spiced or not at pleasure; and when the vine¬ 
gar becomes weak from use, it may be thrown away and 
fresh vinegar substituted. Good, but not the sharpest vi¬ 
negar, is the best for pickles. 
Cucumbers. —The best are those that are small and green, 
and those of a quick growth. Turn boiling water on them 
as soon as picked; let them remain five hours, and then 
put them in cold vinegar, with alum and salt in the pro¬ 
portion of a spoonful of the former, and a tea cup of the 
latter to a gallon of vinegar; add vinegar as you add cu¬ 
cumbers; and when you have done collecting cucumbers, 
turn the vinegar from them, and scald and skim it till it 
is clear, then put in the pickles and let them scald with¬ 
out boiling for a few minutes, and return them to their 
vessel while hot. Cucumbers may be preserved in salt, or 
saturated brine, for any length of time, and then prepared 
for pickling by soaking and scalding. In the preparation 
of these pickles, no salt will be needed in the vinegar.— 
Peppers are added to the vinegar while hot, and before it 
is turned over the pickles. 
Peppers. —Take those that are fresh and green, soak 
them in salt and water eight or nine days, changing the 
brine each day, and keeping them in a warm place. If 
they are not wanted very fiery, make a slit in them and 
extract the seeds, being careful not to mangle the pepper. 
If it is. desired to stuff them, chop white cabbage fine, 
season it highly with mace, cinnamon, cloves, and nastur¬ 
tiums if liked, and fill the peppers with the mixture. Sow 
them up carefully and put them in cold spiced vinegar. 
Tomatoes may be treated in the same way, and when green 
are very good pickled with the peppers. Peppers are one 
of the best of pickles, but those used must not be allowed to 
grow hard or tough before gathering. 
Nasturtiums. —Gather them when small and green; put 
them in salt and water, and change them once in three 
days. "When the gathering is done, turn off the brine, 
and pour on scalding hot vinegar. Season at pleasure, 
though generally used without. 
Mangoes. —These are made of green muskmelons, as 
late in the season as possible. The common muskmelons 
make the best mangoes. A small piece is cut from the 
side, and the seeds carefully scraped out; it is then soaked 
in salt and water three or four days; when taken out, it 
is sprinkled on the inside with powdered cloves, pepper, 
nutmeg, and filled with strips of horse radish, cinnamon, 
small string beans, small pieces of flag root, nasturtium, 
small onions, radish tops, &c. The crevices are filled 
with whole mustard seed. The piece of melon is then put 
back, and a piece of white cotton cloth sowed around it. 
The melon is then placed in a jar, and vinegar prepared 
with aium, salt and pepper corns, as for cucumbers, made 
boiling hot, is poured over it. 
Cabbages. —Quarter the firm head of the cabbage; put 
the parts in a keg, sprinkle on them a good quantity of 
salt, and let them remain five or six days. To a gallon 
of vinegar put an ounce of mace, and one of pepper corns 
and cinnamon. Cloves and allspice may be added, but 
they darken the color of the cabbage. Heat the vinegar 
scalding hot, add a little alum, and turn it while hot on 
the cabbage, the salt remaining. It is necessary to turn 
the vinegar from the cabbage several times, and scalding 
it, return it again while hot. This makes them tender. 
Purple cabbages, the heads not large, but fine and firm, 
are best for pickling. 
Pickling Oysters. —Boil and strain the liquor, first tak¬ 
ing the oysters from it. Rinse the oysters, and see they 
are free from pieces of shells. Put them in the liquor 
while boiling; boil them one minute, then take them out 
of it, and to the liquor put a few pepper corns, cloves and 
a blade or two of mace; add a little salt, and the same 
quantity of vinegar as oyster juice. Let the whole boil 
fifteen minutes, and then turn it on the oysters. If the 
oysters are to be kept any time, they must be bottled and 
corked, as soon as cold. 
One way of saving both time and breath, is to use 
slips of paper for lighting candles or lamps. Lucifers 
are not always at hand, and if they were, their smell 
is not perfume, while the burning of a slip of paper 
ighted in the fire, or at the stove, offends no one. Cut 
a few dozen slips from old papers, letters, &c., and fold 
them some six inches in length. Put them in a glass, 
where they can be conveniently reached, or place them 
in a paper case within reach. If you want something 
a little showy, use paper of several colors. Try this 
a few weeks and the old mode of matches, or coals and 
tongs, will not willingly be returned to by the house¬ 
keeper. 
LINCOLNSHIRE AND RAKEWELL SHEEP. 
We had the pleasure, last month, of viewing a flock of 
sheep, which were on their way west, consisting of twenty- 
five bucks and ewes, selected with great care by Mr. 
George L. Watson, of Sennett, Cayuga county, from va¬ 
rious flocks, but mostly from that of Mr. Clift of West¬ 
chester county. Among the number bought of Mr. Clift, 
was the famous Lincolnshire buck “ Nonesuch," of which 
a portrait was published in the June No. of the Cultivator 
for the current year; also three other bucks and seven 
ewes of the same breed, all of which do great credit to 
Mr. Clift’s flock, for an account of which, as well as a par¬ 
ticular description of the buck “ Nonesuch,” the reader is 
referred to the communication of Mr. C. at p. 93. There 
were also in the herd, several Bakewell bucks and ewes, 
affording fine specimens of that breed. Taken together, 
they were a beautiful lot, and Mr. Watson, the purchaser, 
deserves much praise for his effort to introduce these breeds 
into western New-York, where as yet they are compara¬ 
tively little known; and we doubt not he will be well re¬ 
warded for his investment. He desires us to say that a 
part of the bucks will be for sale ; his object being to aid 
others, as well as to procure an improved breed for himself. 
SEEDLING PLANTS. 
One of greatest sources of improvement in cultivation 
is to be found in the proper selection of plants to culti¬ 
vate ; and the law of nature is such that the opportuni¬ 
ty for selection, and consequent improvement, is almost 
infinite. The seeds of plants may be said to rarely pro¬ 
duce plants precisely like the original stock, and this is 
OAving to a noAv Avell understood cause, the mixture of 
pollen from several varieties of the same plant; in soav- 
ing seeds, tnerefore, and cultivating the seedlings, Ave es¬ 
tablish neAV varieties, superior in some respects, and 
perhaps in many to the old. As instances of this, Ave 
may refer to the strawberry, potato, pear and apple. 
So improved has the strawberry been in size and flavor, 
that the original plant is noAv rarely or never cultivated. 
The Methven, Wilton, Knight’s seedling, &c. have been 
propagated from seedling plants; and it is but a few 
days since it Avas announced that a new variety, a seed¬ 
ling in a garden near Boston, had proved itself superior 
to every knoAvn variety of this delicious fruit. The 
potato also has proved the value of seedlings, in the 
neAV and excellent varieties to Avhich soAving the seeds 
has given rise. As a proof of this Ave need only men¬ 
tion the Rohan. By soAving the seeds and cultivating 
the seedlings of the pear the celebreted Van Mons of 
Belgium, has originated several hundred new varieties 
of pears, many of Avhich are the finest fruits, and prom¬ 
ise to supersede nearly all others in cultivation. Every¬ 
one can recollect some superior apple cultivated from 
seedlings, and in our orchards there arc many apples 
that are of the first quality almost wholly overlooked, 
because they have no sounding name, and are only the 
“natural fruit.” We have in our orchard a seedling 
tree that produces a sweet apple Avhich for winter use is 
superior to any SAveet apple with which we are acquaint¬ 
ed. It is of middling size, yelloAV, Avith a tinge of red 
when ripened, keeps till March, is a good bearer, and 
highly esteemed for the desert or for cooking. We 
have also some grafts noAv bearing from a seedling tree 
in the orchard of a friend and which for distinction’s 
sake, Ave call Parsons’ Fall Greening. It is a good sized, 
round apple, deep green, smooth skinned, uniformly fair, 
ripe in October, flesh juicy, yellow, slightly acid, and ef 
fine flavor. Nearly every seedling orchard can pro¬ 
duce some variety Avorthy of extensive cultivation, and 
while there is no excuse for the alloAvins orchards 
of such miserable fruit to exist as are novv, seen, the 
groAvers of seedling fruits or orchards, may reasonably 
expect to find in the collection many Avhich -will amply 
reAvard by their excellence, the labor bestowed on them. 
All our best fruits are from seedlings, and let it be re¬ 
membered that every new fruit of superior quality pro¬ 
duced, is only preparing the way for a future crop of 
still greater value. 
WORMS IN FRUIT. 
“ Messrs. Editors —Can you give me any informa¬ 
tion, hoAV to prevent the worm in fruit—apples for in¬ 
stance ? I have an apple tree covered with fine fruit, 
and almost every one the habitation of a worm.” 
The worm in the apple as well as in the plum and 
cherry, is a species of curculio, the perfect insect of 
which, or the bug, deposites its egg in the fruit while it 
is small, and the worm when hatched.preys on the fruit. 
After attaining its size, the worm, with the fruit, falls 
upon the ground, in which the worm takes up its abode 
in the chrysalis state, until, revivified and changed by 
the spring, it issues a perfect insect to recommence the 
work of destruction. To destroy it, dislodge the bug 
from the tree by jarring it off and killing it; by picking 
up all the premature fruit that fdlls, as this state is usual¬ 
ly induced by a worm, and feeding it to swine, or allowing 
these animals to run under the trees and gather the 
windfalls and defective fruit for themselves; or by 
beating down, or paving the ground under the trees so 
that the Avorm Avhen it falls cannot readily penetrate 
the earth, but be picked up by birds or fowls. 
