To Can Peaches

Pare the peaches and put in glass preserve jars. Use one tablespoonful of sugar to every two peaches. Pack the jars full. Blanch two peach kernels and place on top. Put on the covers, but do not screw down. Stand in a kettle of water on a wire tray. Bring to a boil and set in the cooker five hours. The fruit will settle in the jars, leaving room for about two more peaches and juice. Provide for this need by cooking some peaches with sugar in a pitcher at the same time. Fill the hot jars quickly from the pitcher. Reheat on the stove. Screw covers on tight. Keep in a cool place. Any fruit can be canned in the same way. Add vinegar and a little muslin bag of spices to each jar to make a delicious sweet pickle.

Canned Pears

Pare large yellow pears. Cut them into halves and scoop out the cores. Cover them with cold water while you make a light syrup in proportion of one pint of water to one cup of sugar.

Prepare enough syrup to cover the quantity of pears you wish to cook. Boil and skim the syrup, drain the pears and put them into the boiling syrup. When boiling again place in the cooker for ten hours or over night. In the morning reheat and can. For preserving the pears proceed in the same manner, making a richer syrup of three-fourths pound of sugar and one cup of water to one pound of fruit. After boiling and skimming add the pears. Boil fifteen minutes and consign to the box for twelve hours or over night. In the morning cook over the fire if necessary to thicken the syrup.

Preserved Quinces

Pare, cut into quarters, and core the quinces and throw them into cold water as you pare them. Make a syrup of one pound of sugar and one cup of water to one pound of fruit. After boiling and skimming cook ten minutes and remove to the cooker for eight hours or more. Then cook slowly over the fire as seems necessary.

The cooking box is especially desirable for cooking the hard pears and quinces that require so much time over the fire.

Prunes

Three cups of dried prunes. Soak them in cold water about fifteen minutes that they may be more thoroughly cleansed. Place them in a cooker kettle with four cups of cold water and one and a half cups of sugar. Bring slowly to the boiling point. Boil ten minutes and put into the cooker for four or five hours. Cooked in this manner the full flavor of the juice and the fruit are retained.

Some prunes will not cook in the time given. They may be re-heated and returned to the cooker, using your judgment as to the time required to complete the cooking.

Watermelon Preserves

Take thick, firm, watermelon rinds. Pare them, remove all the soft portion and cut into small cubes. Place them over the fire with enough water to cover, and to each quart of the melon add one-fourth teaspoonful powdered alum. Heat to boiling temperature and leave in the cooker ten hours or over night. Then drain through a colander and pour cold water over it and drain again thoroughly. To each pound of the rind, add one pound of sugar, a few pieces of ginger root, and one cup of water. Boil and skim the syrup and when clear add the melon. Cook to your taste and then can. A pleasing variety may be made by coloring a portion with some of the pink powder from a package of Knox's gelatine. Put into the boiling syrup as much of the powder as will make the desired shade. This will make a beautiful color and will add to the attractiveness of the preserves.