The Plum

In season: August and September.

An indigestible stone fruit, which, however, makes excellent jam, and good tarts; cooked, it is wholesome.

Strawberries

In season: June and July.

This delicious fruit received its name from the practice of the people in tying them down straws as cherries were often sold tied down sticks, The strawberry grows wild in many parts of England in the woodlands, but our cultivated varieties have many of them been imported from other lands. This fruit makes a delicious preserve, and is eaten fresh as a dessert fruit.

Cranberries

In season: fresh, Sept. and Oct.; imported, Nov. to Jan.

The Cranberry grows best on the muddy margin of a pond, or in bog earth. It is a native of England and all the north of Europe, but American cranberries are the best; the flavour is a pleasant acid. It is used for tarts, but is not so common as the garden berries are. It is also preserved, and is imported during the winter months.

Melons

In season: forced, July to September: foreign, July to September.

The gourd tribe are remarkable for the water they contain. The melon contains 94 per cent, of water. They are the fruits of hot dry climates. In our cold lands they are less needed, and tax the digestion of a weak stomach. Eaten with pepper instead of sugar - an Asiatic custom - the melon is not unwholesome. It makes a delicious preserve. The imported Spanish melon, of great size, may be bought for about 2s.

Pine Apples

In season: forced, June to August; foreign, all the year, nearly.

A very expensive hothouse fruit, but to be bought cheaply enough - for about 1s. 6d. to 2s. or 3s. from the fruit shops. The cheap pines are imported from the West Indies.

Pine-apple preserve is excellent, but the fruit is not easy of digestion.

Flavour Of Fruit

To obtain the full, true, delicious flavour of a strawberry or peach, gather the fruit one day in advance and shut it up closely in the fruit-room, and it will then be fit for the dessert and a credit to the cultivator. A second-class fruit prepared by this course of procedure will actually surpass a first-class fruit eaten freshly gathered; yet the current notion is, that soft fruits cannot be too fresh, and that the keeping of them deteriorates their flavour. - Gardener's Magazine.

Cotton As A Preservative Of Fruit

It is not generally known that common raw cotton is one of the best and most simple means of preserving fruit for a long while. In America it is in general use for keeping grapes fresh all the winter. The method employed is as follows: - The bunches are gently laid between a layer of cotton in a glass or earthenware jar. The jar is then corked down and the corks dipped in melted resin.