before it is ripe, we were to refrain from asking if we shall live to eat it or to see it eaten, we should accomplish something really great in preserving our peace of mind as well as our fruit. It is a simple matter also, if entered into with calm cheerfulness, to look over and can the fruit. After the fruit has been carefully examined, set it in a cool room or into the refrigerator, while you examine your cans. It is well to have some new rubber rings on hand, as you may need them; have also a cup of flour paste ready; then if the zinc rings or covers are bent a little, you may still make them air-tight with the paste. If you are at all doubtful about the condition of your cans, use the paste. In a long experience of putting up fruit I have never broken but one can, and that was on account of carelessness in rinsing it in too hot water. I rinse the can in warm water, then set it in a two-quart basin with a little water in it, set it on the stove beside my porcelain kettle, fill the can with boiling fruit, and seal up as quickly as may be. One thing which should be carefully avoided is too much boiling of the fruit after the sugar is put with it. The injury which boiling does is not by any means well understood by many good cooks. Last year I gave up all the care of putting up fruit and pickles to a competent and honest girl; but, by her not knowing that sugar, when boiled, actually changes its nature, and loses much of its sweetness, she used more than twice the quantity which I have used this year, and then the fruit was not so sweet as it ought to be. (When making syrup to eat on hot cakes bear this in mind: after the sugar is dissolved let it come to a boil, but do not boil it.) PEACHES.—If possible, pare and cut up your peaches the afternoon before they are to be canned, and scatter sugar over them. In the morning there will be syrup enough to cook them in. Put this syrup into your porcelain kettle—if you have one, if not, into a bright tin pan; cook a few peaches at a time, try them with a broom-splint; just before they are done add the necessary quantity of sugar. Some housekeepers make a practice of putting one whole peach into a can, to give the almond flavor of the stone to the whole can. You can not, of course, guess at just the number of halves or quarters needed to fill the can; if you have too many pieces, and are afraid of their cooking too much, take them out carefully on a plate and, after cooking others for the next canful, add to them. By cooking a few at a time you can preserve the shape and have much finer results than if you cook a great many at a time. QUINCES AND SWEET APPLES.—Prepare the quinces and apples as for canning. Steam them in the same way, having about one-third as many quinces as apples. Make a very sweet syrup, as they will keep better with plenty of sugar. These may be canned or kept in a large stone jar.—_Emma Whitcomb Babcock, in “Household Hints.”_