pint) sufficient to cover the fruit.
Adjust the indiarubber in the groove made for it on neck of the bottle,
place the disc on it, and _lightly_ screw down the outer ring. (Steam
must be allowed to escape.) Boil as before for twenty minutes; take out
each bottle, and at once screw the outer ring as tightly as possible.
Leave bottles until cold. Next day examine by unscrewing the outer ring,
and try whether the disc is firmly fastened down. If so, replace the
ring, screw down tightly and store away in a cool place, standing them
upright. The bottles by having new discs and indiarubber rings may be
frequently used."

The Rev. W. Wilks, secretary of the R.H.S., recommends pears, especially
Pitmaston D., as suitable for bottling. "Bottled it is delicious." He
thinks fifteen minutes from the time the water boils sufficient for
plums. Messrs De Luca mention an hour as the time for pears.

Messrs Lee & Co. of 19 Knightrider St., Maidstone, have received medals
from the R.H.S. and others for their fruit bottling apparatus and
bottled fruit.

They supply a patent economic fruit bottling apparatus at 21s. A
thermometer at the side records the temperature of the bottles and of
their contents. The following is the method given in the _Journal of the
R.H.S._

"The fruit must, of course, be fresh and good and the bottles clean. The
fruit is first packed into the bottles, which are then filled up to the
neck with cold water, or if preferred, with thin syrup made by
dissolving 1/2 lb. of loaf-sugar in hot water and leaving it to cool.
The bottles are then put into the cooking pot where they must remain for
certainly not less than two hours at a temperature of between a minimum
of 145 degrees and a maximum of 160 degrees. This low sterilising
temperature being maintained for two, three, or four hours will destroy
all germs without cooking the fruit, and is the great secret of
successful bottling. No actual harm is done by the heat rising above 160
degrees, but if it does the fruit will probably burst, lose its shape,
and not look so nice. Vegetables may be preserved in exactly the same
way, but they must be done twice over with an interval of twenty-four
hours to allow of their becoming quite cold. Jams and fruit jellies can
be preserved fresh and good for years in the same way."

Success in bottling and preserving fruit depends chiefly on two points:
(1) The destruction of every germ of mildew, etc., by keeping the
bottles at a