This is a great read! Everything looks clear until you get to the part where it says “put some hay in a large saucepan…” It all makes sense in the end, but does make one pause.
There was nary a mention of hay in my Ball canning book. Just sayin.
Source: Mrs. Crowen’s American Lady’s Cookery Book,1866.
Convivial Supper 
I just got done posting a jelly recipe. I like the hay idea to keep the bottles from touching. They must of been cutting the fruit up small to cold pack them in the bottles with corks. Unless they had some of those new fandangled Mason jars with rubber rings. They started making them in 1856.
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Neat! No idea about the rubber bungs – I do see some references to them occasionally!
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