You can try the following Internet sources: http://www.homecanning.com/ http://www.weckcanning.com http://www.homecanningsupply.com/ Creswick, Alice: The Fruit Jar Works, Volumes I & II. Published by Douglas M. Leybourne, Jr. N. Muskegon, Mich., 1995. Leybourne, Doug: The Red Book of Fruit Jars Published by Douglas M. Leybourne, Jr. N. Muskegon, Mich., 1993, 2000. A Primer on Fruit Jars by David Hinson. Internet: http://www.av.qnet.com/~glassman/info/b&e/primer.htm

The familiar term Mason Jar came after its inventor, Mr. John L. Mason, who, at age 26, was a tinsmith in New York City. He perfected a machine that could cut threads into lids, which ushered in the ability of manufacturing a jar with a reusable, screw-on, lid. These jars freed farm families from having to rely on pickle barrels, root cellars, and smoke houses to get through the winter. For urban families, Mason Jars allowed excess fruits and vegetables to be preserved for use later.

Both materials are recyclable and should be placed in the same recycling cart, unattached. At the recycling facility, a magnetic "belt" is used to separate the ferrous metals, like jar lids, bottle caps and steel cans, from the other materials. If the metal lids are left of the jar, they are not separated. In the glass handling process at the recycling facility, the lid becomes a contaminant and is not recycled but is discarded as waste.

Collectors frequently refer to these numbers as "mold numbers." However, in some cases, this term oversimplifies what the numbers represented. Originally when jars were blown by hand, the number represented a specific glass blower and his team. At the end of the day the blower and his team would get paid for the amount of jars they produced as determined by the number of jars made with a given number on them. I.E.

Square jars were considered a design improvement because a homemaker could stack more jars together in less space thus allowing a family to put up more food in their small cellars or cupboards. Square Jars were made for the Smalley Fruit Jar Co. Boston, Mass in the late 1890s. Other square jars date from the 20s, 30s and later. The value of square shaped jars tends to be higher than round as it seems that fewer square jars were made.

When manufacturers produce glass, chemicals (clarifying agents) must be added to clarify the batch in order to turn it from its original color of aqua-blue or green to clear. Prior to the start of the First World War, manufacturers used Manganese Dioxide as their chemical agent of choice to clarify glass. When a jar or bottle turns purple from sunlight, manganese dioxide is the substance in the glass that reacts with sunlight to cause the color change.

To learn more about the value of fruit jars I recommend the Red Book of Fruit Jars #9 by Doug Leybourne. You can order the book post paid for $35 from the author by writing him at P.O. Box 5417, N. Muskegon, MI 49445. You can also purchase the book on-line at www.fruitjars.com

You should make a list and then determine how much your jars are worth by consulting a reputable price guide. (Like the Red Book.) Once you know what you have and what it's worth, swap meets are always good places. If you have a booth or know of anyone that has a booth at an antique mall you could try that. You might even try selling them at a yard sale.

There have been new reproduction fruit jars from China turning up in antique malls for outrageous prices but they're worth about $6-$8 each. The regular old zinc lids don't fit right and the aluminum lids that come with them are new and shiny giving away the jar's recent manufacture. These reproductions are copies of the old Hero jars made in the 1880s. As a collector these new jars usually have a poor quality to their color and the glass has a slicker than usual feel.

Regular glass jars break easily at freezer temperatures. If using glass jars, choose wide-mouth dual purpose jars made for freezing and canning; these jars have been tempered to withstand extremes in temperatures. If standard canning jars (those with narrow mouths) are used, leave extra headspace in liquid packs (3/4-inch for pints; 11/2-inches for quarts) to allow for expansion of food during freezing and completely thaw food before removing it.

The manufacture of fruit jars really didn't take off until after the civil war. Before the war, canning jars (many were actually large, heavy, bulky enamel lined cans) were expensive and difficult to use. Mason's patent was issued in 1858 but it wasn't until the Consolidated Fruit Jar Company began making jars after the war did the Mason jar really begin catching on.

Yes, jars in amber, cornflower blue, olive green, etc. are worth more because fewer of them were made and they are in great demand by collectors. The amber jars were made that way as an attempt to keep fruit from turning brown. The amber glass kept out the harmful effect of light rays on the contents of the jar. However, the jars were less popular with homemakers because the contents were more difficult to see.

Well, the Ball, Kerr or Atlas jars tend to be fairly common. However, some jars can be worth more depending on the actual embossing. (Especially dealing with Ball jars.) Jars with unusually bright colors are worth more. These were generally made at the end of a run and contain sediments and chemicals that color the glass. Amber colored jars tend to be worth more than clear or aqua jars, but this is not a hard and fast rule either.

Occasional sneezes are normal. When you consider the amount of exploring that hedgehogs like to do, in combination with just how busy that little nose is, it's pretty easy to understand that the result will be an occasional sneeze. Extended sneezing fits, or nasal discharge, however, indicates a problem, and a trip to the vet is in order. This can indicate anything from a respiratory problem, to a bad cold.

Glass bottles or jars used for food or drink can be placed in small quantities in your crate at kerbside for recycling. Larger domestic quantities can be taken to an EcoDepot for recycling. You are able to drop-off items at the recycling drop-off areas during normal EcoDepot hours at no charge. Certain organisations collect jam jars for reuse. If you have 30 or more jars you can call the TerraNova Waste Exchange facilitator (336 0080) to arrange for collection.

The combination of ingredients used to make glassware is different from what goes into container glass for bottles and jars. If these two types of glass are recycled together, the resulting glass will not be suitable for container glass. In fact, glassware, ceramics, window panes, or mirrors can pose a threat to equipment in a glass recycling plant. Compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) and tubes come in various shapes and sizes.

All of the major fruit jar research books out there are out of print. There has been some discussion about reprinting Dick Roller's "Standard Fruit Jar Reference." There is also the two part Creswick book entitled "The Fruit Jar Works" and two classic books from the 1970s namely "Bottle Makers and Their Marks" by Julian Harrison Toulouse, 1971 and "A Collector's Manual, Fruit Jars" by Julian Harrison Toulouse, 1969.

No. The recycling process for glass bottles has been developed so that labels can be removed prior to the heating phase.

A#7.4: There are man pages for this that were distributed with the v2.0.4 GNO update, but they don't quite match the implementation provided with the Multi-user 2.0 package. To activate cron, you must uncomment its entry in the /etc/inittab file. See the init(8) man page for the format of this file. Cron is controlled through the /etc/crontab file. Unlike its UNIX counterparts, the GNO cron does not support setting of environment variables in the crontab file.

You can earn credit by examination for knowledge and experience you may have gained during your life. Generally referred to as "challenging a course", a student can arrange to take the final exam in a course, provided the individual department has approved the course as "challengable". You must also meet other minimum requirements as explained in the college catalog under the heading: Credit by Examination. Below is a list of the individual divisions at WVC: