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PRESERVATION OF HOME FOODS
  Why don't you stop at the hardware store
on your way home tomorrow night, and get
a few inches of sheet brass, raid the work-
basket for a package of fine needles (any-
thing below No. io is too coarse for good
results) and make a pinhole of your own?
Then you can see if our enthusiasm is not
well founded.
THE PRESERVATION OF FOOD
IN THE HOME
OUSEWIVES and all who have
         to cope with the problems of food
         preservation will be glad to know
         that the Department of Home
Economics, College of Agriculture, Ithaca,
N. Y., has issued a series of lessons on this
important subject which may be obtained
by simply writing the Department and en-
closing one cent postage for each lesson.
The "Announcer"-the official organ of the
College-summarizes the lessons thus:
  "Part I.-Food is spoiled either by being
fed upon by small living organisms, or by
life processes inherent in the food which
cause growth ripening and decay.  Food
preservation creates conditions unfavorable
to the growth of micro-organisms; such
conditions are produced by the use of very
low temperatures or very high tempera-
tures, by removal of moisture, or by one of
three classes of preservatives-the harm-
less, the doubtful, or the harmful. Success-
ful preservation by canning depends on the
condition of the food, on impervious jars,
on absolute cleanliness, and on the destruc-
tion and exclusion of micro-organisms.
   "Four methods of canning are described
in the bulletin, and rules are given for test-
ing canned fruit and for proper storage con-
ditions.  Directions follow for the use of
harmless preservatives such as sugar, salt,
vinegar, and spices. The laws regulating
the use of commercial preservatives are dis-
cussed.
   "Part II.-Low temperatures check life
processes. Hence the ice supply is of great
importance in keeping the daily store of
perishable food. Directions are given for
making a refrigerator and an ice-box.
  "By means of cold storage, foods may be
held for seasons of non-production.  Pro-
longed cold storage affects the wholesome-
ness of foods, therefore laws regulate the
time that food may be thus stored. These
laws are quoted.
   "The success of drying as a means of
 food preservation is proved by the number
of fruit evaporators operated in the State.
  "Recipes are given for fruit juices, sun
preserves, and cider vinegar.
  "Part III.-Lack of succulent foods in
the winter affects health and efficiency.
Storage may easily be provided for eggs,
fresh fruit, and vegetables. Eggs may be
preserved in limewater and salt brine, or in
water-glass solution. Fruit packed in bar-
rels, boxes, or open trays, may be kept in a
well-ventilated cellar having a uniform tem-
perature of about 330 F. and a high per-
centage of humidity. Special cellars or pits
for vegetable storage are satisfactorily and
inexpensively constructed. Burying is one
of the easiest and most successful storage
methods, but some of our best storage
crops need special treatment and precau-
tions.
  "Meat may be kept fresh by cold storage
or by partial cooking and packing in stone
jars; or, in cold localities, by freezing or
packing in snow. It may also be cured dry
or in brine, and smoked. The greater nu-
tritive value of fresh meat makes it de-
sirable to use as much as possible of it un-
cured.
  "The value of milk as a food should be
retained in its fullest degree by care in the
following essentials: procuring clean milk,
protecting it from foreign odors, and hold-
ing it at the temperature of a good ice chest
or refrigerator."
  As the author of the pamphlet puts it,
"It is a natural impulse in the time of
plenty to linger on the memory or on the
prospect of a time of need, and from the
discomfort of such reflection has sprung,
phcenixlike, thrifty thought of the future.
In no way is man's effort to be provident
better exemplified than by his adaptation of
scientific knowledge to the improvement of
food conditions.   Winter's dietary is no
longer distinguished by scarcity of eggs and
lack of vegetables and fruits. Not only has
Nature been persuaded to prolong her pe-
riod of production, but also ways have been
perfected of protecting and preserving per-
ishable crops of summer. . . . Many
of the important practical factors in food
preservation were known even to primitive
man: that dried foods keep for a long time;
that salt water and smoke have specific
properties which aid in food preservation;
that foods last better if they are kept cold.
It has been left to civilization and to the
advance of science to give reasons and to
perfect methods."
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