Rensselaer Union, Volume 2, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 August 1870 — The Conditions of Snccessful Frult-Canning. [ARTICLE]

The Conditions of Snccessful FrultCanning.

PaopiiK can fruit on a fldte theory. It is that of driving the air oat of a jar by •team. This can be done, and perhaps sometime* is, bat I think of no circumstances in which I would attempt it. The true wav is to fill the Jar absolutely full of boiling liquid, and clap cover on, leaving no particle of air or iteam under it. Now to particulars: Fint. Take a glass Jar. It is unchangeable, and as good as now till it breaks. No fruit acts on It You can see its contents. Tou need not break it Second. Heat It till it will bear boiling liquids. This may be done by pouring in water that will not break it, and adding successive portlors of boiling water, shaking it after each. * Third. Dip in the substance to be canned from a boiling kettle, as deliberately as you please, so that the top does not get so cold that boiling water will break it Fill to within halt an inch of the very brim. Fourth. Lay a circle of stiff paper on the surface. Fifth. Pour on a quantity of boiling water, letting it run over the top, till the last particle of foam is washed away. The paper keeps the steam from washing away the surface beneath. Sixth. Put on a hot class cover, that will project a little into the mouth of the Jar, with a rubber ring between the top of the jar and the shoulder of the cover, so that no air can pass the cover. Seventh. —Put op a clasp or other contrivance, to hold the cover and rubber firmly against the top of the jar air-tight. The lid touches the surface of the boiling water, and there is no place for air or steam in the jar. But as it cools, the surface of the liquid sinks away from the cover, and it looks as if there was air in. The more rapidly filled, the greater will be the vacant space. The less of liquid in the contents, the less the space. Eighth.— Test tho jar when cold. Remove the clasp or other contrivance without disturbing the cover. If now you can remove the cover with your fingers, the jar is not sealed. If jar or cover be deficient, sealing may be impossible. If all be tight, replace the clasp and rest secure. Of course with many patterns of Jar, these directions cannot be followed. Reject all such jars. A jar might fulfill all these conditions, yet be unsatisfactory and difficult to open, because air cannot be conveniently let in by passing the point of a knife betweon the jar and the rubber. r I see no reason why jars should not be as good after a use of twenty years as at first. They will keep quick-lime, potash, spices, ground coffee, putty, and perhaps paints and varnishes—certainly if the mouth and cover can be kept clean. None of these need a vacuum.— Rev. J. F. Holton, in Journal of Horticulture.