ers--either by
smoking the inside of a clean barrel well with sulphur before putting in
the cider, or by hanging inside a barrel nearly full, a thin muslin bag
full of white mustard seed. Cider from russets and pear apples had a
peculiar excellence, so was kept for Christmas and other high days.

Pear cider--perry--we knew only in books. Not through lack of pears but
inclination to make it. Pears were dried the same as other fruit, but
commonly packed down after drying in sugar. Thus they were esteemed
nearly as good as peach chips, or even peach leather.

Peach chips were sliced thin, packed down in their own weight of sugar
and let stand twenty-four hours to toughen. Then the syrup was drained
from them, boiled, skimmed clean, spiced with mace and lemon peel, and
the slices dropped into it a few at a time and cooked until sweet
through. Then they were skimmed out, spread on dishes well sprinkled
with sugar, dredged with more sugar, set under glass in sunshine and
turned daily until dry. They were delicious, and served as other
confections--passed around with nuts and wine, or eaten instead of
candy.

So were cherries, dried in exactly the same manner, after pitting. When
dried without sugar they were used for cooking. So also were tomato
figs. Yellow tomatoes, smooth and even were best--but red ones
answered--the meatier the better. After scalding, peeling, soaking an
hour in clear lime-water to harden, they were rinsed clean, then dropped
in thick boiling syrup, a few at a time, simmered an hour, then skimmed
out, drained, sugared and dried under glass in the sun, or failing
sunshine, upon dishes in a very slow oven. Full-dry, they were packed
down in powdered sugar, in glass jars kept tightly closed. Unless thus
kept they had a knack of turning sticky--which defeated the purpose of
their creation.

Peach leather may not appeal to this day of many sweets--but it was good
indeed back in the spare elder time. To make it the very ripest, softest
peaches were peeled, and mashed smooth, working quickly so the pulp
might not color too deeply, then spread an inch thick upon large dishes
or even clean boards, and dried slowly in sunshine or the oven. After
it was full-dry, came the cutting into inch-strips. This took a very
sharp knife and a steady hand. Then the strips were coiled edgewise into
flat rounds, with sugar between the rounds of the coils, which had to be
packed down in more sugar and kept close, to save them