To each pound of Damson plums, add a half cupful of sugar, one half ounce each of cinnamon, mace, and cloves (tie the spices in a bag). Remove the stones from the plums and boil until it becomes thick like jam.

SWEET PICKLED PEACHES AND PLUMS

Allow three and three quarter pounds of sugar to seven pounds of fruit. Put the sugar into the preserving kettle with a quart of vinegar and two ounces each of cloves and a stick of cinnamon. Boil them for five minutes after the sugar is dissolved. Pare the peaches and stick a clove into each one. Place a few at a time in the boiling syrup and cook them until they look clear, but are not softened enough to fall apart. When all are cooked, continue to boil the syrup until it is reduced nearly one half and pour it over the peaches. Plums are pickled in the same way. The skins may be left on both peaches and plums if preferred; in which case the down must be brushed off the peaches, and the plums must be pricked with a fork in several places to prevent the skins cracking when placed in the hot syrup.

PICKLED WALNUTS

Gather the walnuts when well grown, but still soft enough to be pierced through with a needle. Run a heavy needle through them several times and place them in strong brine, using as much salt as the water will absorb. Let them remain in brine for a week or ten days, and change the brine every other day; then drain the nuts and expose them to the air until they have turned black. Pack them in jars and cover them with boiling hot vinegar prepared as follows: To a gallon of vinegar add an ounce each of ginger root, mace, allspice, and cloves, and two ounces of peppercorns; boil them together for ten minutes and strain over the nuts. Let them stand a month before using.

CUCUMBER OR GHERKIN PICKLES

Gather each day the cucumbers of the size desired; rub them smooth with a cloth and place them in brine strong enough to float an egg. They will keep in the brine until wanted to pickle. Soak the cucumbers in water for two days after taking them from the brine, changing the water once, and then scald them in vinegar, or pour the boiling vinegar over them and let them stand in it two days before using. Put into each two quarts of vinegar an ounce of peppercorns, a half ounce each of mustard seed and mace, a piece of horseradish, a piece of alum the size of a pea, and a half cupful of sugar; boil them together for ten minutes before straining it over the cucumbers. The very small cucumbers are called gherkins.

GREEN TOMATO PICKLE