If your fruit be tough, boil it in water until tender. But, as a rule, this is unnecessary, and may be avoided by buying tender fruit to begin with. Make a syrup of a pint of water and a quarter of a pound of sugar for every quart of fruit. When this is hot, drain the cold water in which they were laid after peeling, from the pears or apples, and drop them carefully, one by one, into the now boiling syrup, and cook until they can be readily pierced with a fork. Your cans, meanwhile, should be lying in hot water, from which you may now remove them, and fill them with the pears. This done, pour in the syrup until the jars are full to the brim, and fit on the tops and rubbers immediately.