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CUCUMBERS, PRESERVED (An excellent Sweetmeat for Dessert)

Choose cucumbers that are young, fresh, and nearly free from seeds, split them, cut the pieces across, take out the seeds, and lay them for three days in brine strong enough to bear an egg. Put over them a cabbage-leaf or vine-leaves to keep them down, and place a cover over the dish. At the end of that time take them out, wash them in cold water, and set them on the fire with cold water and a tiny lump of alum. As the water heats, keep adding a little more alum, until the cucumbers are a bright green, which they ought to be in a short time, and if they are not, change the water again and let them heat as before, but they must not boil. Drain them, and when cool pour over them a syrup, made by boiling a quart of water, a stick of cinnamon, one ounce of ground ginger, and one pound of loaf sugar for every pound of cucumber. Boil the cinnamon and ginger in the water for an hour, then drain it and add the sugar, and boil to a thick syrup. Let the cucumbers lie in this for two days, when the syrup must be boiled for ten minutes with them. Put the preparation into jars and leave it until next day, when it must be covered closely. These directions must be minutely attended to, or the sweetmeat will not be a success. Time, six days.