Every thing used for the purpose of preserving should be clean and very dry, particularly bottles for bottled fruit. Fruit should boil rapidly _before_ the sugar is added, and quietly afterwards--when preserves seem likely to become mouldy, it is generally a sign they have not been sufficiently boiled, and it will be requisite to boil them up again--fruit for bottling should not be too ripe, and should be perfectly fresh; there are various methods adopted by different cooks: the fruit may be placed in the bottles, and set in a moderate oven until considerably shrunken, when the bottles should be removed and closely corked; or the bottles may be set in a pan with cold water up to the necks, placed over the fire; when the fruit begins to sink remove them, and when cold fill up each bottle with cold spring water, cork the bottles, and lay them on their sides in a dry place. To bottle red currants--pick them carefully from the stalk, and add, as the currants are put in, sifted white sugar; let the bottles be well filled and rosin the corks, and keep them with their necks downwards. * * * * * BRANDIED CHERRIES. Put into a large wide mouthed bottle very ripe black cherries, add to them two pounds of loaf sugar, a quart of brandy, and a few cloves, then bruise a few more cherries, and simmer with sugar, strain and add the juice to the cherries in the bottle, cork closely, and keep in a warm dry place. * * * * * QUINCE MARMALADE. Peel, cut into quarters, and core two pounds of sharp apples, and the same quantity of quinces; put them into a jar, with one pound of white sugar powdered and sprinkled over them; cover them with half a pint of water, and put in also a little bruised cochineal tied in a muslin. Set them in a slack oven till tender, take out the cochineal, and pulp the fruit to a marmalade. Some cooks prefer boiling the sugar and water first and scalding the fruit till tender, and then adding them to the syrup. * * * * * DAMSON MARMALADE. Is made in the same manner as quince, as also apricot marmalade, which is very fine; the fruit must be stoned, and some of the kernels put in with the fruit, which are peeled, and apricots are cut in pieces; they should be carefully pulped through a clean sieve. * * * * * PRESERVED APRICOTS. Halve and pare ripe apricots, or if not quite ripe, boil them till the skin can easily be removed. Lay them in a dish hollow downwards, sift over them their own weight of white sugar, let them lay for some hours, then put the fruit, with the sugar and juice into a preserving pan, and simmer till the fruit is clear, take it out, put it carefully into pots, and pour over the syrup. This receipt will serve as a guide for preserved nectarines, peaches, plums, gages, &c. A few of the kernels should always be put in with the fruit, as they improve the flavor of the preserve.