267 
cooling the “claies” are in put into the *'four," this time at a 
temperature of about 135^; again withdrawn, turned, cooled and put 
in at a temperature of about °; and this operation is continued 
. The more slowly the 
operation is performed and the oftener the plums are put into the 
“ four " the better will be the result. 
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; 30 to the pound would be worth about 120 franes the 100 
3 
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 earefully in bottles or boxes, the inferior are simply 
exported in bulk. 
ound Agen and in the other districts another tree is cultivated, 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 
, lthink the deductions I have drawn from the observations and 
inquiries I have made may be briefly stated as follows ;— 
l. t we have no plum at present cultivated in the Severn district 
that at all resembles the * Prune d’ente.” 
2. That though I think we have plenty of suitable soil I think it 
original weight ; with our plums it would probably be about three- 
quarters. In other words a pot of our plums would probably yield 
about 25 pounds of dried fruit, 
duce of from 30 f n s ux sé Pea 
1 pots of fresh fruit, all of which would pass through all — 
four kilns, There could not be ure than about six weeks of work, | 
and the gross output would, therefore, be about 250 pots of dried fruit 
ae time. 
t will be seen that during the greater part of the year the factory 
Would be idle unless development in other directions were adopted, 
