January 7, 1891.] 



Garden and Forest. 



11 



metayer, during the year, has entire control of the farm, and 

 buys and sells, subject, if required, to the consent of the owner. 

 He renders account of all produce from the holding con- 

 sumed by himself and family, and at the end of the year the 

 balance of profit is divided equally between the owner and 

 the metayer. During the last few years the metayers have 

 fared badly, for the Phylloxera has devastated the vineyards, 

 and sad it is to see acres and acres of land excellent for the 

 growth of grapes, but fit for little else, now deprived of those 

 crops which formerly so well repaid the cost of cultivation. 

 The holdings vary in extent from ten acres to sometimes fifty 

 and sixty, and on every holding in the lowlands are to be seen 

 rows of the ' Prunier d'ente.' The rows are separated from 

 each other by long strips of cultivated land where the mild 

 fawn-colored oxen lazily drag the most old-fashioned and primi- 

 tive implements over the easily broken soil. The plums are 

 long-shaped, the end to which the stalk is attached being 

 very much the more pointed ; color red, deepening into a rich 

 violet as the plum ripens; the skin is extremely tough, without 

 being very thick or hard ; the flesh very firm, containing a 

 large amount of saccharine ; the specific gravity much less 

 than that of several varieties of English plums with which I 

 made comparison. 



" The tree is a very slow grower, requiring ten years to bring 

 it into full bearing, though I saw some trees six years old, very 

 favorably situated, with a fair crop of fruit on them. The 

 fruit also matures very slowly, and is not ripe till all other 

 fruits in the district, apricots, green gages, peaches, have 

 ripened. The plums are picked when just ripe, before the 

 flesh has begun to soften, they are placed on 'claies' or trays, 

 one layer of plums on each 'claie.' The 'claies' are made 

 either of strips of wood or of wicker-work, and are either tri- 

 angular or round. They are a little deeper than the thickness 

 of a plum, so that when not in the ovens they can be safely 

 placed upon each other. The 'claies' when filled are arranged 

 upon the bottom of the 'fours' or inside the 'etuves,' and the 

 operation commences. Each homestead has a building in 

 which are placed the 'fours' and also the 'etuve,' if the me- 

 tayer possesses one. The 'fours' are simply like very large 

 ordinary bread-ovens. They are usually built in pairs, each 

 one about ten feet long and four feet wide ; they are heated 

 by burning wood inside them ; the ashes are cleared out and 

 the 'claies' placed inside. The 'etuves' are closets of varia- 

 ble dimensions, with different appliances for holding the 

 'claies.' They have a small furnace with pipes underneath 

 the floor for heating. There seems to be a preference for the 

 'fours,' though the 'eluves' are simpler and more convenient 

 in every way. 



"When the fresh fruit is put in the temperature should be 

 about 100 degrees Fahrenheit. When the plums have been 

 inside for about a couple of hours they assume a peculiar 

 puffy appearance. The 'claies' are then withdrawn, the fruit 

 turned by holding an empty 'claie' upside down close over a 

 full one, and then turning them both over. After cooling, the 

 'claies' are again put into the 'four'; this time at a tempera- 

 ture of about 135 degrees ; again withdrawn, turned, cooled, 

 and put in at a temperatare of about 170 degrees; and this 

 operation is continued until the plums have been dried. Some 

 dry more rapidly than others, and they are picked out as they 

 are ready. The more slowly the operation is performed, and 

 the oftener the plums are put into the 'four,' the better will be 

 the result. 



"When they are ready the plums are sorted out into various 

 grades, according to the number (30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55 or more 

 up to about 130) that it will take to make up the French pound, 

 for curiously enough the old French measure is adhered to. 

 They are put into sacks and carried to the markets. Here the 

 merchants come and buy, paying prices varying according to 

 the number of plums required to weigh a pound. Thirty to 

 the pound would be worth about 120 francs the 100 pounds ; 

 forty to the pound about 100 francs, and so on down to the 

 very lowest grades, which are not worth more than fifteen 

 francs. The merchants convey the fruit to large, cool, airy 

 warehouses, where it is thrown into bins, and women at long 

 tables are employed sorting over again much more carefully 

 than before. The various grades are then packed separately 

 into casks and are sent to Bordeaux, where the finer qualities 

 are packed carefully in bottles or boxes ; the inferior are sim- 

 ply exported in bulk. 



" About Agen and in the other districts another tree is cul- 

 tivated, the ' Prunier commun.' This is a round, violet plum, 

 grown on its own stock. The fruit is prepared in a similar 

 manner to the 'Prune d'ente,' but is very inferior and is only 

 fit for stewing. Enormous quantities are consumed by the 

 peasants in the north and east of France." 



Meetings of Societies. 

 The American Forestry Association. 



HHHE ninth annual meeting of this Association was held at 

 -*■ Washington on December 30th, 1890. A summer meet- 

 ing having been held at Quebec September 2d-6th, the present 

 meeting was primarily for business. At the morning session 

 at the Department of Agriculture members were present from 

 Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, 

 Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vermont and the District of 

 Columbia. Owing to official duties Governor James A. Beaver, 

 of Pennsylvania, President of the Association, was unable to 

 attend, and Honorable Edwin Willets, the local Vice-President, 

 occupied the chair. The report of the Executive Committee 

 detailed the past year's growth of the Association, now num- 

 bering 225 active members, and referred to the increasing 

 popular interest and belief in the necessity of forest-preserva- 

 tion and management all over the country. Attention was 

 called to the work of the New Hampshire Forest-Commission, 

 the movement for a state forest-park in the Adirondacks, 

 the establishment of the Adirondack League Club, the Sequoia 

 reservation and the appeal of the citizens and the Forest-Com- 

 mission in California. The committee's efforts for national 

 legislation have not yet met with the success that was hoped 

 for last spring when the Special Committee of Congress was 

 appointed to consider forestry-legislation. Legislation on the 

 tariff, the elections, etc., having absorbed the attention of Con- 

 gress and the public, this committee has not yet reported any 

 of the bills before it ; and it would look as if the struggle 

 would have to be continued in the next Congress. 



Dr. B. G. Northrop, Chairman of the Arbor Day Committee, 

 presented a report on the increased observance of that day and 

 the practical value of the planting done. Hon. Warren Higley, 

 of New York, described the plans of the Adirondack League 

 Club for practical forest-management on its 93,000 acres of 

 woodlands. 



At the afternoon session the committee on resolutions and 

 nominations reported a proposed change in the constitution, 

 adding six members at large to the Executive Committee. This 

 was adopted. The following officers were then nominated 

 and elected : President, William Alvord, of San Francisco ; 

 Vice-Presidents, Hon. H. G. Joly, Quebec ; Dr. Charles Mohr, 

 Alabama ; Dr. M. Riordan, Arizona Territory ; Abbot Kinney, 

 California ; G. H. Parsons, Colorado ; Dr. B. G. Northrop, 

 Connecticut ; Hon. C. R. Pringle, Georgia ; G. W. Minier, 

 Illinois ; C. L. Watrous, Iowa ; Professor E. A. Popenoe, 

 Kansas ; Hon. A. M. Brown, Kentucky ; J. D. W. French, Massa- 

 chusetts ; Professor W. J. Beal, Michigan ; Hon. C. C. An- 

 drews, Minnesota ; Hon. J. Sterling Morton, Nebraska ; J. B. 

 Harrison, New Hampshire; W. A. Stiles, New Jersey ; Morris 

 K. Jesup, New York ; Professor W. R. Lazenby, Ohio ; Her- 

 bert Welsh, Pennsylvania ; L. D. Davis, Rhode Island ; Pro- 

 fessor H. A. Green, South Carolina ; Professor Charles A. 

 Keffer, South Dakota ; Hon. T. T. Wright, Tennessee ;> W. 

 Goodrich Jones, Texas ; Dr. Hiram A. Cutting, Vermont ; H. 

 C. Putnam, Wisconsin ; Hon. Edwin Willets, District of Col- 

 umbia ; Hon. G. W. Allan, Ontario ; Treasurer, Dr. H. M. 

 Fisher, Philadelphia ; Recording Secretary, Dr. N. H. Egle- 

 ston, Washington ; Corresponding Secretary, Edward A. 

 Bowers, Washington ; Executive Committee at large, B. E. 

 Fernow, H. B. Ayres, Colonel E. T. Ensign, W. G. Pellew, 

 Charles C. Binney, Hon. Warren Higley. 



Statements were then made by various members as to forestry 

 interests in their states, and the Association was invited to meet 

 next summer at Den ver.Colorado, which invitation was accepted. 



The evening session was held conjointly with the American 

 Economic Association at the National Museum. Professor E. 

 J. James, of the latter body, was prevented by indisposition 

 from reading his paper on the duty of Government in regard to 

 forests. Very interesting papers were read by GiffbrdPinchot, 

 of New York, who is now studying forestry in Europe, on 

 " Government Forestry Abroad ;" by Edward A. Bowers, the 

 new Corresponding Secretary and formerly an inspector of 

 public lands, on "The Present Condition of the National 

 Forests," and by B. E. Fernow, Chief of the Forestry Division, 

 on "The Feasibility of American Forest-administration." 



Resolutions were adopted urging the passage of a bill for 

 the reservation and management of the national forests, the 

 proper protection and enlargement of the Yosemite and Se- 

 quoia parks, and the state reservation of forest-lands in New 

 Hampshire and New York. Congress was also petitioned to 

 enact the Senate bill for changing the boundaries of the Yel- 

 lowstone Park without the objectionable amendments added 

 by the House committee. 



