In using self-sealing glass jars great care must be taken. If the work is properly done the fruit can be kept for years. Have a kettle of hot water on the stove beside the preserving kettle, and also a small dipper of hot water. Plunge a jar into the hot water, having the water strike both inside and outside the jar at the same time. If you set it down instead of plunging it, it will break. Put the cover in the dipper. When the jar is hot, lift it up and pour the water from it into the kettle. Stand the jar in the hot water and fill it with hot fruit from the preserving kettle. Fill to the brim with the hot syrup. Take the cover from the dipper of hot water and screw it on very tightly. In using the jars a second time have the right cover and band for each one. A large-mouthed tunnel, such as grocers have, is almost indispensible in the work of preserving.

Jellies and jams should be put in tumblers or bowls. A paper should be cut to fit the top, and then wet in brandy, and another paper should be pasted over it. Jelly tumblers with glass covers are more convenient than the old-fashioned ones, and where they are used the second paper cover is not necessary. It is better not to cover until some weeks after the jelly is made. White crushed sugar is much the nicest for preserving. If jelly does not seem hard, as it should be the day after it is made, it can be set in the sun for several hours, which will help it greatly.

Strawberries

To each pound of berries allow half a pound of sugar. Put the berries in a kettle, and mash them a little, so that there will be juice enough to cook them without using water. Stir them to prevent scorching. Cook fifteen minutes; then add the sugar, and let them boil hard one minute. Put them in the jars as directed. More or less sugar may be used, as one prefers.

Raspberries

To each pound of berries allow three-fourths of a pound of sugar, and cook the same as the strawberries.

Cherries

Cherries may be preserved either with or without stones. Many think the stones give a richer flavor. To each pound of cherries allow one-third of a pound of sugar. Put the sugar in the kettle with half a pint of water to three pounds of sugar. Stir it until it is dissolved. When boiling, add the cherries, and cook three minutes; then put in the jars.

Currants

Currants should be prepared the same as raspberries.

Pineapple

Pare the fruit, and be sure you take out all the eyes and discolored parts. Cut in slices, and cut the slices in small bits, taking out the core. Weigh the fruit, and put in a pan with half as many pounds of sugar as of fruit. Let it stand over night. In the morning put it over the fire and let it boil rapidly for a minute only, as cooking long discolors it. Put it in the jars as directed.

Grated Pineapple

Pare the fruit clean; then grate it on a coarse grater, rejecting the cores. Weigh it, and put to each pound of fruit a pound of sugar. Let it stand over night. In the morning boil for a minute, and it is done. Put it in jars as directed.