Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 36.djvu/148

138. In Provence the freshly gathered fruit is plunged into pots of boiling water, where it remains till the water again comes to the boiling-point. It is then shaken in baskets till cool, and dried in the sun on trays. At Digne the fruits are peeled with the nails and strung on sticks in such a way as not to touch, and then are stuck into straw frames and exposed to the sun till the prunes easily detach themselves from the stick. The pit is then removed, and the fruit is placed upon trays exposed to the sun. In some other districts the prunes are dried in immense ovens. The first cooking of the fruit should be at a temperature not exceeding 50°, the second 70° C, while the third may be performed at 80° or 90°, or occasionally 100° C. A well-cooked prune is dark purple, has a solid and brilliant surface, is malleable and elastic to the touch, with the kernel well done and intact in the shell. When these conditions are not fulfilled, the kernel ferments, and the prune becomes moldy and worthless. Bordeaux is the principal center of the prune industry, and has a trade that is increasing.

Climate and Phthisis.—The question, Does climate cure phthisis? is answered by Dr. James A. Lindsay, of Belfast, Ireland, in the affirmative, "beyond question." It does it, not usually by a single or specific quality of the air or by any definite combination of meteorological conditions, but by removing the consumptive from the evil influences of unfavorable meteorological conditions and of an injurious soil, and transferring him to a climate where fresh air, sunshine, and outdoor life may be enjoyed and their concomitant advantages realized. The best climates to cure phthisis are found at marine resorts and mountain resorts. The best marine resort is a sea-going ship—a sailing vessel preferred—and the longer the voyage the better. Next are ocean islands, coast islands, and shore places, of which Algiers, Tangier, and Malaga are among the best. Of the dry inland resorts, the best are Nubia, the interior parts of Algeria, the Orange Free State, and the vast interior plains of Australia—of which the Orange Free State is recommended on account of its altitude. The mountain resorts have proved most efficacious in cases of delayed recovery from pneumonia, with threatening tuberculosis, chronic pleurisy with much fibroid change, incipient catarrh of the apex, and chronic tubercular phthisis, with good reaction and the retention of fair constitutional vigor. They are not good for advanced and much weakened cases; and, speaking generally, only chronic cases with fair reaction are suitable for climatic treatment.

The Crofter's Question.—The English newspapers have had much to say concerning the agitations of the "crofters" of the Highlands and islands of Scotland. The crofters are small farmers, living on rental holdings which have generally been occupied by the family through many generations, or perhaps centuries, coming down from the times when the clan system prevailed. During the present century their holdings have been abridged by the development of sheep-farming in which the landlords have become interested, and more recently by the absorption of the land in immense deer parks. The crofters naturally object to being dispossessed of estates which they have come to regard as in a measure their inheritances, and have manifested their objections in ways common to rude and ignorant men. Deprived of their accustomed homes and of the only resources which they knew how to make available, their situation became so distressing and desperate as to awaken public attention and form a leading question in Parliament. They claim a right to security of tenure, to the fixation of rent by a land court, and to opportunities for enlarging their holdings. As defined in the "Westminster Review," their troubles are not the growth of a few years, nor are they due to any faults of their own, but rest upon claims of right far older than the present civilization and régime of the country. The historic claim of the crofters is, that the fertile lands in the Highland glens and pastures and on the hill-sides were the common property of the clan under the chief, and that, even though the chief may have been in the eye of the law the absolute owner of the land, still in point of fact and immemorial custom the clan shared his possessions, and had an undisputed and undisturbed right to their crofts and their