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Rack for Wash-Boiler

The Mudge Canner and the usual steam cooker are supplied with perforated discs that hold the jars above the water; two pieces of hard wood, two or three inches in length, an inch and a half in width, and one third an inch thick are set under each can to leave a space between the two pieces of wood. In the canner, but one can is set in a compartment; in the steam cooker and wash-boiler, several cans are set side by side, and it is best to press cloth between them at the bottom to hold them in place. If jars come in contact at any point during the cooking, they are liable to break. It should be needless to add that if water must be renewed in the cooking receptacle after the jars are once heated, it must be at the boiling point. A wash-boiler to be used for canning must be supplied with a rack on which the jars may be lifted from direct contact with the floor of the boiler. This rack may be made of lath or of similar strips of wood. When finished, the rack needs to be an inch or two shorter and narrower than the boiler, that it may be lowered into it with ease. It should be reinforced with supports below, that it may not sag in the middle when laden with filled jars, but these supports must be so placed that there is a free circulation of water below the jars.