CANDYTUFT 



1154 



CANIS MAJOR 



boiling together two cups of granulated sugar, 

 one cup of water and a very little cream of 

 tartar. When the syrup has become thick it 

 is allowed to cool, then beaten with a spoon 

 or paddle until it has a creamy consistency. 

 A little practice will enable one to produce 

 candies which are the equal of the best sold 

 in the shops. 



The process of molding candies in the great 

 factories is interesting. Shallow boxes are 

 filled with cornstarch, into which are stamped 

 by machinery little hollows of the shape wanted 

 for the candy. Into these the cream candy is 

 run from a tank, and after it has hardened the 

 candy is dumped with the starch into a hop- 

 per which allows the starch to drop through 

 a sieve and brushes from the finished candies 

 all the starch that has clung to them. 



Hard candies are made of sugar and water 

 boiled to a heavier syrup than is the fondant. 

 It is colored and flavored, then allowed to 

 harden without being stirred or beaten. Much 

 of the stick candy is still rolled out by hand. 

 Caramels of the best grade are made of sugar 

 and pure cream, boiled until the product is 

 of a proper consistency and cooled on marble 

 slabs. The candied fruits, nuts and flowers 

 which have become so popular in recent years 

 are made by dipping them into a syrup which 

 has been boiled until it is just on the point 

 of recrystallizing into sugar. Chocolate creams, 

 too, are a dipped candy, the fondant centers 

 being thrown into the chocolate and lifted 

 out with a wire spoon. Perhaps there is no 

 candy which is more popular than the various 

 kinds of chocolates, and the demand for them 

 has caused a vast increase in the chocolate 

 business (see CHOCOLATE). A.MCC. 



CAN'DYTUFT, a group of plants belonging 

 to the mustard 

 family, that take 

 their name from 

 Candia, the old 

 English name for 

 the island of 

 Crete, from which 

 the seeds were 

 carried to Eng- 

 land in the six- 

 teenth century. 

 Three species of 

 candytuft are 

 well - known gar- 

 den flowers, easily CANDYTUFT 

 cultivated in ordinary soil. Purple candytuft 

 grows to a height of about one foot, and bears 



its flowers in flat-topped clusters, the blossoms 

 in the center of the cluster being smaller 

 than those on the edge. The four petals, pink 

 or pale purple in color, show an irregularity 

 that is typical of the candytuft group, for the 

 two outer petals are much longer than the 

 others. A garden bed of this species, with the 

 shades of pink and purple melting into each 

 other on the nodding flower heads, is a most 

 attractive sight. 



Bitter candytuft, grown in gardens and also 

 found as a weed in Western and Central Eu- 

 rope, is a small plant six to twelve inches high, 

 whose erect, branching stem bears white, some- 

 times purple-tinted, flower clusters. The root, 

 stem, leaves and seeds of this species are said 

 to have medicinal properties. Evergreen 

 candytuft, a lover of warm climates, is valued 

 for its abundant, pure white flowers. In a 

 favorable climate these flowers remain in bloom 

 throughout the winter. 



CANE, kane, the name applied to various 

 plants which have a reed-like stalk or stem, 

 including the sugar cane and bamboo among 

 the grasses, and the rattans among the palms. 

 The stems of plants of this type are of untold 

 value to man, because of their lightness, 

 strength and flexibility. In tropical countries 

 of the East, for instance, where the bamboo 

 flourishes, the natives use the plant to build 

 their houses, and much of their furniture is 

 also of this wood. Batavia, in Java; Sarawak, 

 in Borneo; Singapore and Penang, in the 

 Straits Settlements, and Calcutta, in India, are 

 centers of a flourishing trade in canes and rat- 

 tans, the Western European countries and Can- 

 ada and the United States importing large 

 quantities. In these latter countries fishing 

 rods, walking sticks, umbrella handles, baskets, 

 chair seats and many other articles made 

 from cane plants are familiar objects. 



Because so many walking sticks have been 

 made of the wood of these plants, the term 

 cane is now applied without discrimination to 

 any walking stick. See BAMBOO; SUGARCANE; 

 RATTAN, with which are illustrations. 



CANE SUGAR. See SUGAR, subhead Cane 

 Sugar. 



CANIS MAJOR, ka'nis ma' jer, meaning the 

 GREAT DOG, is a constellation in the southern 

 hemisphere containing Sirius, the Dog Star, 

 the brightest star in the heavens. The dog is 

 the faithful companion of the mighty hunter 

 Orion, whom he eternally watches over in the 

 sky. The three familiar stars forming the belt 

 of Orion point directly down to the nose of 



