Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 January 1874 — Old Fruit Cans. [ARTICLE]

Old Fruit Cans.

Empty tin fruit cans, like old hoop skirts, are a nuisance when out of place. The question is; What is their place ? and 1 should be willing to answer it a hundred times, if I could banish them from the gutters, the ash heaps, the vacant lots, and, above all, from the hand 3 of the boys. I shudder now at the very suggestion of their ever being used again as music boxes, strung with rosined chords. Did that epidemic visit your locality, my dear reader? If so, you would be in haste to prevent the slighest possibility of its recurrence. But to the remedy; In the first place, to open the cans properly, put hot coals on and around the little soldered tip on the top, until the solder melts, then scrape off lid and coals together, with a table knife. Be careful, however, not to set the cans on the hot stove before they are opened, by which little neglect steam enough to burst the can might be generated, which would not be a very pleasant, or profitable method of opening it. When opened properly, you have a smooth, round orifice through which to remove;, the fruit. When the cans are empty and diy, in-

vert them in hot coals in the stove for half a minute, or on a hot stove, until the solder melts and loosens the remaining top of the can; then strike it off, smooth ; off the bits of solder, and you have a very convenient cooking utensil. For a lid, use a saucer, or the covers to old tin pint cups of pails. Rice, wheat, sauip T pearl barley, split peas, and many other dishes lor a small family, and small dishes for a large family, can be cooked in i them, either standing directly on the | stove, or placed in a large boiler.or saucepan of water, to prevent the possibility of their burning. It also saves more costly 1 tin utensils;' for this method of boiling ! water is hard on the tinware. One can i may be kept for onions; others can be | U9ed for baking or steaming rye and Ini diau bread, and some kinds of pud- | ding. , They are also convenient for pantry j use, for holding articles to be used in cookery or in the laundry ; for garden seeds, for paint pots, and for many other things that will suggest themselves to every housekeeper, and for which indeed they would long ago have been used but for the untidy, jagged edge made by the common method of opening them. If covers are wanted for them in these capacities, discarded rims and lids may be put together with a little solder.- - -- If there are tin shears at hand, and any one to use them, the cans may be made into very passable'scoops. Take several Of them at a time to a tinner, and lie will cut them into the shape for a trifle. It saves time to have a scoop in every meal tub, flour barrel, sugar pail, and starch box* In short, old tin cans are far better for many purposes than for street organs, or for ornaments to dogs’ tails. Suppose we change the tune, and have better economy, more and a higher grade of music.—SciVace of Health.