100 DRIED FRUITS 



coloured olives, pressed separately, would yield a finer oil 

 than the others, though less in quantity. 



From the apartments where the dried fruits were in 

 process of packing, M. Brest conducted me through his 

 soap manufactory, which is on a considerable scale, soap 

 being one of the most important manufactures of Mar- 

 seilles, and being made chiefly with the inferior kinds of 

 olive oil ; thence to a saw-mill, turned by water, and 

 finally, to a room heated by steam for the treatment of 

 silk worms. M. Brest next took me through the planta- 

 tion adjoining his buildings, to show me how the caper is 

 cultivated. At present the bushes are all covered with 

 soil to prevent them being destroyed by the frost, and pre- 

 paratory to this they had been pruned down to the length 

 of from six to 12 inches each branch or shoot. In the 

 spring they are cut down close to the stock, so that every 

 year produces new branches. The bushes which yield the 

 capers, if well treated, will last for 40 years ; they yield 

 on an average one pound and a half of capers, though 

 some of the very strong bushes will occasionally yield 

 from five to six pounds. The caper is the flower bud 

 before its development ; the largest and least valuable 

 grow near the bottom of the branch, the smallest at the 

 top. They are gathered by women at the expense of a 

 halfpenny a pound. The bushes are about four feet apart; 

 they are propagated by means of offsets from the roots, 

 two of which offsets were presented to me by M. Brest, 

 On opening the box which contained these offsets in 

 London, I had the mortification to find that they had 

 both perished. Having expressed my desire to procure 

 cuttings of the grapes which are dried for raisins, and of 

 any other sort cultivated in the district which I had not 

 already procured, M. Brest sent a boy to conduct me to 



