The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 22, 1901, Page 13

s e 2 5 - THE HOTTEST CROP OF THE GOLDEN STATE. COSTS $1 50 PER ACRE TO FLANT. BRINGS IN OVER $200 PER ACRE. PRODUCES FOR TWO YEARS IF FROST DOESN'T INTERFERE. GETS RIPE IN SEPTEM- BER. ONE PERSON CAN GATH- | | ER 300 POUNDS OF PEP- | PERS IN A DAY. | STRUNG LIKE BEADS ON | TEN-FOOT STRINGS TO DRY. | A STRING WEIGHS 25 POUNDS WEEN GREEN AND 5 POUNDS WHEN DRY. captivity, forms and green- ting with bright £ by the winds a portion of is envel- ced along 1 entered a m: and various es would be flat and warm flavor of the in the also in most ly made they 1 of preparation £ corn in lye, a mortar r. Into er, and the stirred together until This mixture is then nate layers shed chicken, olives and chilli. The husks are tlen tied at both ends and the tamales healed either by steaming or be- ing place i an oven. The chillis are prepared for jise by being cut open length- wise and sopked in boiling water. The inner lengthyise strings are then removed and thrown {way, and the skin thorough- 1y ped of edible material, which, after being srained through a fine sleve to remove th{ seeds, is ready for its work of spicy embjllishment. The pepperi principally cultivated in Southern Calffornia are of the species icum anfuum, and as they grow luxuriantly and bear profusely, their planting is cojsidered a profitable under- taking. The phnts grow low in the field something likd potato vines. The leaves are narrow, dirk green and mostly gla- brous, and spilout from many forking stems. The wiite flowers bloom on soli- tary or cymoseiclustered pedicels. In the spring. after the winter rains have ceased. the pepper seeds are planted in d@rills. In the/hand-worked gardens the plants are placed about one foot apart, but in the ds where horse cultivators are used the distance should be much ar the rows being at least three feet apart The plants reqyire no irrigation, culti- vation being suficient to supply their as. The cost of planting peppers aver- $1 30 per acre, and at the end of the when the barvest is complete, the produce from one acre amounts to about 30 strings, which usually sell at 75 cents 2 string, bringing the producer the neat ittie sum of per acre. seaso the most favorable localities where is po ‘frost, the pl vi e able wither under sses of the venerable Jack Frost, es a visitation, re- ed on extensively Anahe nd there a County and otner counties of Southern Califor- nia. Among those engaged in the indus- try, Sp: and Chinese are the great- ducers, and a tranquil, pig-tailed Celestial with his wagon load of bright peppers is not an infrequent sight on the country roads. Every Spanish household has its own small patch of peppers, the harvest from which decorates their homes and warms their food. The peppers ripen in September, and hang like crimson cornucopias among the dark foliage of their mother plant. At this time when Nature has completed her artist’'s work, and when, after her help, the peppers have attained the proper tinge of crimson, the pickers, an assort- ment of men of various nationalities, in which Spanish and Chinese predominate, enter the field laden with tubs, boxes or baskets as convenience dictates, and the harvest begins. One conscientious worker will pick about 200 pounds of peppers a day. When the various receptacles begin to est p KEEP YOUR EYE ME, borax, charcoal, dry \d plaster are the things ke and keep a cellar sweet resh. Move out all things take up dust, open bins doors and window: bin or inclosed space 2 1, dish or bowl with aps of quicklime in it. Strew of dry copperas all over the lime, slack it, but do mot wet it, yet be gure the slacking is thorough. Steam the lime, rising up and out will take 21l bad air and ill odors. Leave the cellar open and empty for two hours, then scatter dry powdered bomgx all around, in corners and along the waVls, and wherever there is a place e it will not be in the way hang a piece of met, such as fish net, with some lumps of fresh charcoal tied inside. Jeave the borex until next cleaning time, Take - - ON THE CELLAR the charcoal bags down every week, empty them, heat the charcoal very hot, return to the bags and replace them. Charcoal has a marvelous power to ab- sorb all sorts of bad smells. The power is strictly proportionied to its freshness, which the heating restores. Make cheesecloth pads of plaster mixed with powdered slaked lime and hang them against the walls that are likeliest to be damp. Lime and plaster are so thirsty they take all the sparec water to them- selves, thereby preventing must and mold. A good way to make the pads is to stitch or run inch tucks in a length of ¢heese- cloth or coarse lawn, then slip a funnel spout into the open end of the tuck and pour in the plaster and lime. Make the tucks an inch apart, and fill them evenly. Powdered charcoal may be fixed with the lime and plast for pads which are lo.l hang where foodstuffs are kept.—Wash- ington Star. == ‘("(,’I X NSNS 7 LK T ) R IS e S A INAS 70 b VN THE SUNDAY CALL. \W/Z W N N ey > FIZED av 77 GEozz «\“ z o ,;, SN brim over with thelr gay contents they are carried to the outskirts of the fleld, where wagons are waiting. Into the wagons the peppers are tossed in blush- ing confusion and carted from their home environments to a place where stringing is being done. Here they are Gumped pellmell all over the ground, where they brilliancy, in which the dark s ot shadows of the half hid mingle with the form a m ¢ 07 SO sun-tipped crimson exposed. Spanish women flock in to help with the stringing—captivating senoritas with witching eves and coal black hair. Then there are m have forgotten the art of witc and romance, and who, as they work, think and talk of new methods of mak- ing enchilladas, tamales and other edible concoctions. They push the peppers aside, as a hen makes her nest, and squat flat on the ground, where, in the midst of the glowing piles, they chatter and work from morning till night. In their laps they hold a long narrow board, in one end of which is arranged a small block that contains a groove for supporting the long needle used for glints of the more sive, plump senoras, who Wapry srezmezve edle, which placed up~ right the peppers, after b hrough the stem, are packed s needle I the t the air and sun can res d When the needle groove and the string, string being ten 739‘335;;// o flve cents a string s when crowded full of the urden are h to dry, and v crop of pep- a this year has of strings, tooned ks in the ed, one can realize the es where they 3 s imagination and ive aspect of the cou Wh the the sun they in weight, but after the dry and suit dwindled to a w Great quan on shipboard and so great the demand for peppers that they are ext throughout the country. are used becoming all classes freighted — INETY-NINE women out of every one hundred, ninety-nine cooks out of every one hundred, will baKe a turkey with the back to the pan,” sald a New Orleans man who keeps :n touch wth the Kkitchen, nd this ‘s a mistake. I said ninety-nine out of every one hundred. Rather should” I have said that the mistake is almost universally made. But few cooks ever think of cooking the turkey any other way. There seems to be a demand for \well-browned turRey breast. But in browning the breast they sacrifice the sweetness of this part of the fowl. The best way to prepare a turkey is to bake it with the breast down. I learned this lesson from* Mme. Begue, whose place down in the Old Quarter near the French market has become famed all over the country. She never thinks of baking a turkey with the breast up. The breast is turned to the bottom of the pan, and in- P HOW YOU SHOULD COOK A TURKEY stead of being dry and tasteless when it is served it is richly flavored and as sweet and juicy as one would care to have it ine flavoring of the tur- < sing, and all the touches flow down toward the breast of the fowl, and when the white meat is served you get the full benefit of every flavor added during the processes of preparing and bakl turkey, in addition to the taste of the fow! itself. awkward? Not at N to cook a tur in this way as In any other way d the result is infinitely more satisfactory. It is no trouble to ar- range the fowl in the pan; if you desire to place the fowl on the table before carving it you will find that it will look quite as well as it would if baked in the usual way, and certainly much betier than it would if you baked the breast until it was dry and flavore less.”—New Orleans Times-Democrat. fent and as easy