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ARS-In canning, sugar is not the "keeping" power as in preserves; it is the entire exclusion of air from the fruit that preserves it, and with this fact in mind it will be seen that great care must be exercised to have all the jars in perfect condition. We repeat our former directions for testing the jars. Purchase for the purpose a glass jar having a glass or metal top with a rubber. Thoroughly cleanse the jars, and if the rubbers have been used before and seem hard or worn, get new ones; they may be purchased at any store where the jars are sold. Partly fill the jar with water, place the rubber in position, and put on the top securely. Then turn the jar up-side down and let it remain in this position at least five minutes. If any water oozes out, the jar is imperfect and should be set aside for some other work that does not require the exclusion of air. Simply changing the top or putting on a new rubber will often render the jar perfectly safe.

FRUIT-The fruit used should be firm and as large as can be obtained, except in the case of strawberries. With them the smaller the better, and the wild variety is to be preferred. All other berries should be firm and large. Look them over carefully, removing any that are crushed or over-ripe. Do not buy berries that seem settled compactly in the box, for you may be sure they are either too ripe or have been too long picked. Blackberries, no matter how fine or of what kind, are never satisfactory or appetizing when canned.

To prevent discoloration, all large fruits should after being peeled be thrown at once into cold water until needed.

Cherries are canned with the pits in, as they add much to the flavor.

Pineapples should be peeled and the "eyes" carefully extracted with a sharp, pointed knife. This fruit should not be cut in pieces or slices, but stripped from the stump or core with a silver fork, care being taken that the pieces are not too large.

Quinces should be pared, cored and quartered, the parings and cores being saved to add to the quinces used in making jelly.

Pears should not be too large; the Bartlett is always satisfactory. Pare and cut them in halves, leaving the seeds in, for they add to the flavor as well as to the appearance.

Peaches should be pared, halved, and pitted.

When ready to begin, place the rubber in position on the top of each jar, with the top that has been tested by the side of the jar. Do not mix the tops, as one that is true to one jar may not fit the next, this being particularly the case when the screw-top jar is used. Place the fruit in the jars as soon as it is prepared, shaking each jar to fill the interstices as closely as possible that is, when quinces, pears or any of the firmer fruits are used. Berries must not be packed closely. If pears are used, turn some of the pieces with the core side out, as it adds to the effect when finished. When peaches are being prepared, five or six of the pits should be distributed through each jar, for they improve the flavor. The pits are removed before the fruit is sent to the table. Just as the fruit is laid when the jar is filled so it will remain all winter, for there is no further handling of it.

Find in the table appended the amount of sugar allowed for a quart jar of the fruit you wish to can, and use as many times this quantity as you have jars of fruit; place the sugar in a saucepan on the stove with just enough boiling water to dissolve it. When thoroughly melted, allow it to cool a little and then divide the syrup among the cans, a spoonful at a time. If after all is distributed, it does not fill the jars (and it seldom does), add enough lukewarm water to each jar to fill it and loosely screw on the top. If the glass top jar is used, put the glass in position but do not "lock" it, for if steam is not permitted to escape the jar may burst. Have in readiness a deep porcelain kettle with as wide a bottom as possible; set the jars closely together in this, and fill the kettle with water as warm as you can hold your hand in, until the water is within an inch of the top of the jars; then set the whole over the fire to boil.

Those who have not a sufficiently large preserving-kettle will find the wash-boiler convenient-indeed, if there are a large number of jars, the boiler is much to be preferred. The fruit is cooked in this way, the water gradually heating in the kettle and heating at the same time the fruit and syrup in the jars, really steaming the fruit. The water should not boil too fast. If a boiler is used, care should be taken with the fire at the start, for the tin of the boiler heats much faster than the thicker vessel. It is never wise to place the boiler directly over the fire. Do not fear the cracking of the jars, for if the whole is heated gradually there is little danger. After the water has boiled ten minutes, remove the cover from one of the jars, and if the fruit can be easily pierced with a steel fork and each piece seems softened through, it has cooked enough. Ten minutes are usually sufficient for berries to boil, but more time is necessary for the larger and more solid fruits. It is impossible to give a definite time for boiling, as the worker will realize when she compares such firm fruit as quinces with soft berries. By the exercise of a little common sense, however, she will soon learn the length of time required in each instance. It will be seen that by cooking the fruit in this way no aroma escapes, all the flavoring remaining in the jar.

After making sure that the fruit is sufficiently cooked, set the kettle back where it will not boil, and secure on the top of each jar as tightly as possible in order that the jars, may be more conveniently lifted out. Then, wrapping the hand in a dry towel, lift a jar out of the water, take off the top and pour in boiling water until the jar is overflowing, then quickly adjust the top again for a final fastening. Treat each jar in this manner, and invert them all for a final test as to air-tightness. If any syrup oozes out after a jar has cooled, the fruit can be saved only by turning it into a saucepan and, when boiling, placing in a perfect jar, as in the old method of canning; but this will never be necessary if proper care be exercised in the first instance. If the leak is detected while the jar is still hot, it can be again filled with boiling water and sealed after substituting a new rubber or a different top.

As the jars cool, if the screw-top variety is used, endeavor to tighten them more by using the wrench that comes for the purpose. On the following day, when the jars are perfectly cold, tighten the tops more if possible, and then set them in a cool, dry place as free from a strong light as possible. Do not handle them after they are once set away, as any shaking of the jars is likely to be followed by fermentation of the fruit. Fruit canned in this way will not go to pieces; on the contrary, being cooked in the jar and not handled when in a breaking condition, it remains as whole as when put in the jar.

Canned fruit should always be opened two or three hours before it is needed, as the flavor is much finer when the oxygen, of which it has been so long deprived, is thus fully restored. The amount of sugar necessary for each quart jar of fruit is as follows:

For Cherries, 66 8 ounces.

Raspberries, 66 Strawberries, 66 Whortleberries, 66 Quinces, .. ،، Small Sour Pears (whole), ،، Peaches, ... 66 ،، Pineapples, ،، " 6 ... .. 10 " “ 6 ... 12 " ....... 10 " ....... “ 6 ........

Bartlett Pears, Siberian or Crab Apples, 8 “ 8 “ “ Plums,.

Ripe Currants, “ "