sary if pits are
removed. Weigh fruit and to each pound of plums take about 3/4 pound
of granulated sugar. Place alternate layers of plums and sugar in a
preserving kettle, stand on the back of range three or four hours,
until sugar has dissolved, then draw kettle containing sugar and plums
to front of range and boil so minutes. Remove scum which arises on top
of boiling syrup. Place plums in glass jars, pour boiling syrup over
and seal.

A good rule is about four pounds of sugar to five pounds of plums.

Should plums cook soft in less than 20 minutes, take from syrup with a
perforated skimmer, place in jars and cook syrup until as thick as
honey; then pour over fruit and seal up jars.

BUCKS COUNTY APPLE BUTTER

A genuine old-fashioned recipe for apple butter, as "Aunt Sarah" made
it at the farm. A large kettle holding about five gallons was filled
with sweet cider. This cider was boiled down to half the quantity. The
apple butter was cooked over a wood fire, out of doors. The cider was
usually boiled down the day before making the apple butter, as the
whole process was quite a lengthy one. Fill the kettle holding the
cider with apples, which should have been pared and cored the night
before at what country folks call an "apple bee," the neighbors
assisting to expedite the work. The apples should be put on to cook as
early in the morning as possible and cooked slowly over not too hot a
fire, being stirred constantly with a long-handled "stirrer" with
small perforated piece of wood on one end. There is great danger of
the apple butter burning if not carefully watched and constantly
stirred. An extra pot of boiling cider was kept near, to add to the
apple butter as the cider boiled away. If cooked slowly, a whole day
or longer will be consumed in cooking. When the apple butter had
almost finished cooking, about the last hour, sweeten to taste with
sugar (brown sugar was frequently used). Spices destroy the true apple
flavor, although Aunt Sarah used sassafras root, dug from the near-by
woods, for flavoring her apple butter, and it was unexcelled. The
apple butter, when cooked sufficiently, should be a dark rich color,
and thick like marmalade, and the cider should not separate from it
when a small quantity is tested on a saucer. An old recipe at the farm
called for 32 gallons of cider to 8 buckets of cider apples, and to 40
gallons of apple butter 50 pounds of sugar were used. Pour the apple
butter in small crocks