AmAJp0rn?x87h7arm' }    Medicinal  and  other  Useful  Plants.  1 5  7 
scrophulous,  cancroid  and  other  chiefly  incurable  and  contagious 
diseases.  About  30  years  ago  the  custom  prevailed  in  the  Orient,  but 
is  now  dying  out,  that  after  the  death  from  the  first  named  diseases, 
the  clothes  and  other  effects  of  the  deceased  were  burned,  the  house 
and  walls  scrubbed  and  white-washed  or  painted,  because  the  diseases 
were  considered  contagious. 
Agave  Americana  is  now  quite  common  in  Greece  and  other 
Oriental  countries  ;  the  genus  derives  its  name  from  the  Greek  "ayaoo^^ 
signifying  wonderful,  splendid.  At  the  Olympia  Exposition,  held  a 
few  years  ago  at  Athens,  elegant  fabrics  for  ladies'  wear  were  exhibited 
and  much  admired,  which  had  been  made  from  the  textile  fibres  of 
this  plant.  This  industry  is  carried  on  in  the  Ionian  Islands,  mainly 
in  Zante  and  Cephalonia,  and  gives  employment  to  many  women  and 
children.  An  extract  prepared  from  the  leaves  is  medicinally  employed 
to  some  extent. 
Spartium  junceum  is  another  plant  the  fibres  of  which  furnish  the 
material  for  excellent  fabrics.  By  the  women  of  Maina  and  Sparta 
they  are  principally  made  into  carpets,  which,  when  properly  kept,  are 
almost  indestructible,  and  will  last  for  20  or  30  years.  These  textiles, 
fine  specimens  of  which  were  exhibited  at  the  late  Olympia  Exposi- 
tion, are  called  spartopana.  The  same  material  was  formerly  used  for 
preparing  many  articles  of  domestic  use.  The  plant  has  always  been 
esteemed  for  bees  ;  it  has  been  employed  medicinally  for  its  diuretic 
and  drastic  properties. 
Corinthian  Raisins. — The  day  preceding  the  festival  of  the  holy 
Elias,  19  July,  old  style  (August  2),  is  one  full  of  excitement;  for  on 
that  day  thousands  of  laborers,  mainly  women,  children  and  old  men, 
are  engaged  to  commence  the  harvesting  of  the  grapes  on  the  follow- 
ing day,  which,  in  the  form  of  the  so-called  currants,  represent  for 
Greece  an  annual  income  of  from  40  to  50  million  drachms.  There 
is  scarcely  another  enterprise  as  profitable,  and  for  that  reason  all  the 
suitable  soil  on  the  Corinthian  bay  is  converted  into  vineyards.  With 
merry  songs  the  laborers  march  to  the  vineyards  to  prepare  on  the  first 
day  their  tents  and  huts  from  boards  and  shrubbery.  In  the  meantime 
the  drying-floors  (a Ionia)  have  been  prepared  by  leveling  a  suitable 
piece  of  ground  with  a  mixture  of  clay  and  cowdung,  not  omitting  suffi- 
cient drainage  for  the  rapid  removal  of  water  in  case  of  rain.  Many 
