Choose wide-mouthed bottles, which are made for this purpose; let them be clean and perfectly dry; gather the fruit during dry weather, and fill the bottles if possible on the same day; shake the fruit well down by knocking the bottom edge of the bottle on the table; prepare some corks or bungs (which are made for fruit bottles by being cut the contrary way of the grain); pour boiling water over them, which will deprive them of any smell or dust; repeat this a second time, if necessary, letting them remain in the water each lime until it is cold; cork the bottles well, and tie them over with wire or string. M. Appert recommends that they should be luted with a mixture made of fresh slaked lime and soft cheese; this is to be spread on rags and tied over the mouth of the bottle; they are then placed in a boiler and cold water as far as their mouths; a cover is put on with a piece of linen round it to prevent evaporation, the water is then heated to boiling, and is kept at this point until it is considered that the fruit is boiled in their own water or juice; the fire is then withdrawn, and they are suffered to remain in the water for an hour, when it may be drawn off. The method which I in general pursue is to raise the water to the boiling point, and keep it at this heat for about an hour, according to the nature of the fruit; they are then suffered to remain in the water until it is cold. I find this way generally successful. When they are taken out, cover the mouth of the bottle with melted rosin or bottle wax.

This method is much superior to that of preparing them with water, which renders the fruit flat, dead, and insipid, the whole of the flavour of the fruit being imparted to the water, except when bottled very green, when it does not lose it so much.

A method I have tried with pretty good success, is to obtain the fruit before it is ripe, bottle it, and fill the bottles with cold spring water, in which are dissolved some oxymuriate of potass, cork them close, and cover the mouths with rosin. Plums done in this way had the natural bloom on them. I found these were better than those done in a similar manner by heat. A few bottles of them fermented. After the fermentation was over I corked them close, and in six months I opened some, when they had a smell like wine, and were not so flat as those which were well preserved by heat, and filled with water; these certainly look well to the eye, but they are only fit to be used for large pies, when the water should be made into a syrup with sugar, and put in with it.

The first method, which is the same as Appert's, or nearly so, is decidedly the best; it retains the natural flavour, and may be used for any purpose it is required, it being as good as fresh fruit.

The pulp or juice of fruits may also be preserved in the same way if the fruit is not ripe enough to pulp, put it into a jar, and stop it close, place it in a kettle of cold water, heat it until it boils, and let it continue at this point for ten minutes or a quarter of an hour; take it. out and pass the pulp through a hair-sieve; bottle, and finish as before.

This method of M. Appert's is not altogether original, but was anticipated by the experiments of Mr. Boyle. A system somewhat on the same principle has been practised by many in the trade for years, which is this. The fruit is bottled and carefully corked, the bottles are then placed on the top of the oven, where they are suffered to remain for twenty-four or forty-eight hours, according to the temperature, which is generally from 120° to 140° Fahrenheit's thermometer. Atone place I ascertained the heat during the process, and it averaged 130°. Another system practised is that of heating the bottles in a cool oven.

The principle endeavoured to be accomplished is to destroy the small portion of oxygen contained in the bottle after being corked, by converting it into carbonic acid gas; but some other unknown agent must be produced, as this may be done without heat, which the fermentation of the fruit would cause by itself; for, according to the experiments of Hildebrand, had the oxygen of the atmosphere remained unaltered, it would have caused putrefaction; for he found that oxygen mixed with a small quantity of azote, promoted putrefaction more than pure oxygen. He found that hydrogen gas was the greatest preservative, nitrous next, and after this carbonic. These experiments were tried on meat, but they may be equally applicable in respect to fruit, when the auxiliary produced by heat is not definitely known.

Fruit should always be bottled and boiled on the same day it is gathered; for the longer the fruit lies together the more it sweats; fermentation commences, which is accelerated in the bottles by heat, and there is great danger of their bursting.

All decayed or bruised fruit should be carefully excluded, and that should be preferred which is not quite ripe.

When finished, the bottle should be kept in a cool dry place.