for several hours. If the
prunes are quite easily cooked, less water may be used. They will be
tender, with a thick juice. The sweet varieties need no sugar whatever.
Many persons who cannot eat fruit cooked with sugar, can safely partake
of sweet prunes cooked in this way. A slice of lemon added just before
the prunes are done, is thought an improvement.

PRUNE MARMALADE.--Cook sweet California prunes as directed above.
When well done, rub through a colander to remove the skins and stones.
No sugar is necessary. If the pulp is too thin when cold, it may be
covered in an earthen pudding dish and stewed down by placing in a pan
of hot water in a moderate oven.

THE PRESERVATION OF FRUIT.

Fresh fruit is so desirable, while at the same time the season during
which most varieties can be obtained is so transient, that various
methods are resorted to for preserving it in as nearly a natural state
as possible. The old-fashioned plans of pickling in salt, alcohol, or
vinegar, or preserving in equal quantities of sugar, are eminently
unhygienic. Quite as much to be condemned is the more modern process of
keeping fruit by adding to it some preserving agent, like salicylic acid
or other chemicals. Salicylic acid is an antiseptic, and like many other
substances, such as carbolic acid, creosote, etc., has the power of
preventing the decay of organic substances. Salicylic acid holds the
preference over other drugs of this class, because it imparts no
unpleasant flavor to the fruit. It is nevertheless a powerful and
irritating drug, and when taken, even in small doses, produces intense
burning in the stomach, and occasions serious disturbances of the heart
and other organs. Its habitual use produces grave diseases.

What is sold as antifermentive is simply the well-known antiseptic,
salicylate of soda. It should be self-evident to one at all acquainted
with the philosophy of animal existence, that an agent which will
prevent fermentation and decay must be sufficiently powerful in its
influence to prevent digestion also.

The fermentation and decay of fruits as well as that of all other
organic substances, is occasioned by the action of those minute living
organisms which scientists call germs, and which are everywhere present.
These germs are very much less active in a dry, cold atmosphere, and
fruit may be preserved for quite a long period by refrigeration, an
arrangement whereby the external air is excluded, and the surroun