488 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 June, 1902. 
General Notes. 
THE PACKING OF APPLES. 
In recent years much attention has been devoted in rural England to the 
cultivation of fruit, and methods of packing the product for market have 
received due attention. When the market is glutted it is not always well, 
except in the case of very perishable and soft fruits, to sell at the low figure 
then prevailing. For instance, apple-growers can preserve their harvests by 
careful packing until such season as market prices are such that sales are 
profitable. An excellent system is to carefully deposit the apples in barrels 
in which one of the staves has received a bevelled diagonal cut between the end 
and one of the middle rims. This obviates the necessity of unheading the 
barrel when it becomes necessary to examine the condition of the contents. 
The cask is put on end, the hoop is knocked up, and the tongue of the stave is 
raised a little. After the inspection, the tongue is pressed back and the hoop 
replaced. Nothing could be simpler: The advantage does not lay with the 
grower alone; the merchant also is enabled at once to ascertain the state of the 
fruit supplied him. 
BLACK PUDDINGS. 
These are much eaten in the provinces, and are really excellent when 
properly made. The blood when fresh caught must be seasoned with salt and 
well stirred until quite cold, or it will congeal. Puta quart of grits or groats 
to soak in each quart of blood one night. Moisten the crumb of a quartern 
loaf in rather more than two quarts of new milk made hot. Have ready the 
skins perfectly clean. Chop finely a sprig of savory, one of thyme, and one 
of marjoram. Season with pep er, salt, a few cloves, some allspice,a mite of 
ginger, and a nutmeg grated. ix with 3 lb. of chopped suet, six eggs beaten 
and strained, the Eeeallana milk, well beaten, and lastly the groats which were 
soaked in the blood. When all is well mixed and ready, put into some dice- 
shaped pieces some hog’s leaf. As you fill the skins drop this in about every 
2 inches apart. Tie in links only half-full, and boil them in a large kettle, 
occasionally pricking them with a fine skewer as they boil, or they will burst 
before they are half-cooked. When boiled lay them upon straw until cold, then 
hang them in bags in the kitchen. When wanted scald them and put them 
before the fire in a Dutch oven. Some cooks boil the groats in the milk until 
swelled, then add more milk when mixing. Leeks are sometimes very finely 
shred and added to the other ingredients. 
