A correspondent in British Columbia, who is engaged in the business, gives us the following practical information:
Noticing your reply to a correspondent anent canned goods, I recently opened several cans of salmon that were processed in July of 1879, 1880, 1881, and on comparing them with last season's cans, found it impossible to detect the slightest difference. I hold that if a can is once perfectly sealed, the contents will remain unaltered as long as the metal casing remains intact.
A can will keep if every portion of the contents has been subjected to a temperature of 212° Fah., whether the air is expelled or not, as my experiments have conclusively proved.
When I first began the business, I was taught that the air unless expelled would cause the contents to deteriorate, and that was the reason the cans were vented. I soon found it was a mistake. The venting is done for the purpose of testing for leaks. A tight can has a sound that cannot be mistaken for a leaky one. If your correspondent boils his fish, flesh, or fowl with the vents open, he will have dry cans for his pains. The vents must be closed when cooking, and opened, in the case of meats, after boiling one hour, then closed and returned to kettle, and boil three hours for fish and less for meat without bone. Fruit is vented and closed when finished.
S. H.
OUR WINTER BIRDS.
BY E. M. HASBROUCK.
It is a popular belief that the woods and fields in winter time are void of bird life, and are what they appear at a distance—a cold, bleak, and desolate waste.
This opinion, however, is not correct. It is true that the birds, which were so numerous during the summer, have left us and gone to their winter homes, but as they departed an entirely different fauna started from a colder climate, and gradually took their place. I refer to the birds of the northern part of Canada and the fur countries, whose summer homes are in these desolate regions, and which on the approach of winter are driven southward, making a temporary stay with us until the rigors of an Arctic winter shall have departed, and once more left their homes in an inhabitable condition.
