"Olives are only used for two purposes in this country; that is, we use the oil made from the olive and the green olive for pickles. The oil is valuable, but the pickles are tough, and have no use as food. Large doses of olive oil have been recommended for the removal of gall stones."

"Citrons have no other use except for flavoring, but not many people like them for that purpose. They are tough and well-nigh insoluble, and should not be eaten for food."

"Doctor. I believe it would be good for you to suggest something about preserving fruits."

"Fruits are usually kept either by being dried or canned. Drying is an easy process with proper appliances. Sun-dried fruits are better than no fruit at all; but any slow process of drying where the fruit is exposed to the atmosphere, furnishes the best opportunity for all kinds of insects and bacteria to secure a lodging place, so that sun-drying, or any slow process of drying, should be avoided as far as possible. Fruits that are quickly dried in closed ovens are very much better, and if packed at once and kept from exposure they will be much less likely to be infested with insects, and in every way superior to sun-dried fruit."'

How Should Fruit Be Prepared For Both Canning And Drying?

"The peel, core and all damaged places should be removed. It is a very bad practice to either dry or can fruit with the skins, for they cannot afterwards be removed, and the skin is particularly objectionable in dried fruit, and any other kind, unless thoroughly cleansed before being canned."

Why Is It That So Many People Do Not Succeed In Properly Preserving Canned Fruit?

"Because it is not properly canned."

What Is Wrong With The Ordinary Method?

"The principle of canning fuit merely involves the destruction of bacteria, and then closing the cans so that neither they nor air can enter it."

How Should This Be Done?

"It is best to cook the fruits in the cans, so that no bacteria can enter in filling them. If this cannot be done, the cans should be set in hot water atter they are filled. Probably where more failures are made than anywhere else, is with the lids. It is not only necessary to have the cans thoroughly sterilized by being boiled in water, but the lids must also be sterilized. If fruit cannot be cooked in the cans, the lids should be sterilized and put on the cans with a small vent for escaping steam. If they are then immediately sealed, so that they are air-tight, there will be no trouble in properly preserving them. It must be borne in mind that nothing should touch spoons, lids or anything that comes in contact with the fruit after being sterilized in boiling water."

What Do You Mean By Sterile Or Sterilizing?

"Anything is said to be sterile when it has been subjected to a degree of heat sufficient to kill all kinds of bacteria."

How Much Heat Is Ordinarily Required?

"There are very few microbes of any kind but what are killed after being subjected to boiling water for, say, fifteen minutes. A high degree of heat, if it be moist, such as steam, answers the same purpose, or better. The whole theory of preserving canned goods rests upon the destruction of bacteria and the elimination of air; and as the microbes cling to every known substance, it is necessary to have the hands perfectly clean and all the instruments or vessels sterilized in which the fruit is handled, as already suggested. It is best to cook the fruit in the cans with the lids on. This can be done by filling the cans and setting them in a kettle of boiling water, so that the cans are almost entirely covered. This prevents the entrance of bacteria from handling, and sterilizes the fruit in the jar."