SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIII. No. 320 



"The proposed method of projecting water upon fires would 

 greatly reduce the cost of that service as administered at present, 

 and a;t the same time vastly add to the efficiency of the means of 

 extinguishing by the application of water. First, it would enable 

 a few men with a light hose-carriage to reach the point of fire 

 much quicker than the present heavy engines to-day; and at the 

 breaking-out of a fire a minute is sometimes worth a million dol- 

 lars, and frequently a hundred thousand. Second, it would enable 

 the firemen, by the use of permanent stand-pipes, to connect short 

 lengths of hose, and apply the water in large streams and solid 

 masses ; whereas at present, even when two or three engines are 

 forcing water through a single pipe, or tower, the stream is largely 

 converted into spray before it reaches the fire, and is then con- 

 verted into steam, and even into a gas that aids combustion rather 

 than stops it." 



The medical authorities and health-officers of this city have 

 given this plan much careful consideration, and their conclusions 

 are fayorable to the project. Mr. James C. Bayles, president of the 

 Board of Health, in a communication to Mr. Bartlett, gives his 

 views as follows : — 



" It is undoubtedly true that at the present time large portions of 

 New York are very inadequately supplied with water. This de- 

 partment has constant and serious trouble in that branch of its 

 work which deals with the plans of tenement-houses and other 

 dwellings, owing to the fact that the available supply of water is in 

 many cases so small as to forbid a proper cleansing of plumbing 

 fixtures, if these are provided. There are large districts of the 

 city where the pressure rarely carries the water above the first 

 story ; and in the case of tenement-houses, divided into many 

 apartments, each apartment must be provided with one or more 

 pumps, which, finding their supply from the three-fourths-inch tap 

 at the street-main, are not always able to lift the water required for 

 domestic use. A good water-supply, abundant in quantity and ex- 

 cellent in quality, is a condition precedent to the healthfulness of 

 a community. This is especially true of a crowded community 

 like New York. I am of the opinion that no one thing would do 

 so much to facilitate and make effectual the work of this depart- 

 ment as a great and immediate increase in the water-supply, under 

 pressure sufficient to reach the upper stories. 



" I am unable to favor, from a sanitary point of view, the meas- 

 ures which have been suggested, looking to a restriction of con- 

 sumption in order to prevent the present admitted large waste. A 

 liberal use of water accomplishes what can be attained in no other 

 way, — the cleansing of pipes and sewers ; and people who have 

 access to all the water they desire and can use, are likely to be 

 cleaner in their homes and persons than those who suffer restric- 

 tions in this most important item of daily consumption. I do not 

 think the sanitary aspects of the question with which we are now 

 confronted, growing out of an admitted scarcity of water in New 

 York, can be exaggerated. 



" An increased supply and better distribution of water in New 

 York would undoubtedly tend to diminish the number of conta- 

 gious and infectious diseases with which we now have to deal, and 

 would produce a marked improvement in the public health. If it 

 werenotfor its peculiar position as the gateway of this continent, 

 to which more than eighty per cent of the inflowing travel and im- 

 migration tends, our death-rate would not be so large as it is. For 

 example : if the deaths among immigrants who have never become 

 apart of our population could be eliminated from our totals,- we 

 should last year have reduced the death-rate per thousand from 

 twenty-four or twenty-five to twenty-two. If, further, we could 

 avoid the overcrowding of Italian and other impoverished immi- 

 grants in our tenement-house districts, our death-rate would com- 

 pare favorably with that of the most healthful city of the world. 



" It will not do, however, to attach too much importance to these 

 hopeful figures. They are liable at any time to be changed, and 

 nothing will tend so quickly and effectually to change them as 

 a failure in the water-supply of the city. Of the dangers to which 

 this is subjected, I do not need to tell you. 



" Answering your question with reference to the effect which an 

 increased water-supply would have in diminishing the number of 

 malignant diseases of a contagious or infectious type, I regret that 

 I am unable to be specific. This, of course, is largely a matter of 



opinion, but it is an interesting fact that a very large proportion of 

 the cases of contagious and infectious disease which come under the 

 care of the Board of Health are taken from the upper floors of ten- 

 ement-houses. Whether this is due to lack of water, which is 

 greatest on the upper floors, or to impurities in the water which 

 rise to about that level, I am unable to say. I believe, however, 

 that a material increase of the city's water-supply would promptly 

 and permanently reduce the public burdens entailed in the care of 

 the city's sick. 



"The cordial sympathy and co-operation of this department 

 would be extended to any practicable scheme looking to a supply 

 of water for New York from other sources than the Croton water- 

 shed. Our city is growing with great rapidity, especially in the 23d 

 and 24th wards, north of the Harlem River. It is probable that 

 the needs of this district will not be more than met by the in- 

 creased supply to be obtained through the new aqueduct, when all 

 the engineering work looking to the impounding of additional water 

 is completed." 



If more need be said upon the subject from a sanitary stand- 

 point, it is furnished by the following preambles and resolutions 

 adopted by the Medical Society of the State of New York at a 

 meeting held Sept. 24, 1888 : — 



" WJiereas the present scarcity of water in this city is causing 

 great inconvenience as well as serious apprehension for sanitary 

 and other reasons ; and 



" Whereas the new aqueduct will not materially increase the 

 present supply from the Croton watershed until after the storage- 

 reservoirs are completed, six or more years from now ; and 



" Whereas the upper portion of the city, with its rapidly growing 

 population, will soon require all the water that can be procured 

 from that source ; and 



" Whereas the present insufficient supply of water is a constant 

 menace to the health and safety of the city, inviting scarlet-fever, 

 diphtheria, cholera, and other malignant diseases, as well as disas- 

 trous conflagrations : therefore be it 



" Resolved that this society has listened to the explanation of the 

 plans proposed by John R. Bartlett, Esq., for furnishing the city of 

 New York with an additional supply of pure water, from a source 

 independent of the Croton watershed, and that it approves the 

 same, and urgently recommends it to the attention of the city au- 

 thorities having such matters in charge." 



PRUNES IN FRANCE. 



The introduction of prunes into France is attributed to the Cru- 

 saders, says our consul at Bordeaux ; and, if tradition is exact, this 

 valuable fruit was first cultivated in the south-west of France by 

 the inmates of a convent near Clairac. In travelling from Avignon 

 to Fumel, through the valley of the Lot, fertile plains are seen cov- 

 ered with plum-trees, which furnish the famous prunes d' Ente and 

 Robe-Sergent, these being exported to the remotest corner of the 

 commercial world. The plum-tree does not confine itself to this 

 particular district of France, but it is profitably cultivated in the 

 valley of the Loire, the departments of the Garonne, Dordogne,. 

 Tarn, and Aveyron. The well-known brand called Tours' prunes 

 comes from the orchards of the Loire. Lorraine produces a variety 

 called Quetsche, one of the best for ordinary preserves. 



The prune-tree thrives best in clayey, calcareous soil, and does 

 not exact for its roots a loam of profound depth. Land adapted to 

 the culture of the vine is also partial to this tree. In many locali- 

 ties these two valuable products are cultivated together, as the 

 broad leaf of the vine is especially useful in protecting the roots of 

 the tree from the intense heat of summer. When the prune is ripe, 

 it is covered with a sort of glaucous powder called " flower," which 

 greatly adds to its value as a table-fruit. The fruit is usually 

 gathered after the heat of the day has dissipated the humidity of 

 the night, and, when possible, straw is spread beneath the trees to 

 prevent the fruit coming in contact with the earth. Only such 

 fruit as readily falls when the tree is slightly shaken is gathered. 

 As soon as harvested, the fruit is taken to a building, where it re- 

 mains for a few days to complete maturity. 



Prunes are subjected to not less than three, and frequently to 

 four, distinct cookings before being pronounced ready for market. 



