prises of the highest importance, notably woodworking and lumber, including furniture, iron foundries, drug and dyewood mills, bleachers and dye-houses, boiler-makers, box makers, and brass founders, gas, steam, and water fittings, patent medicine manufactories, stove founders, assayers and refiners and the extensive trade in cotton and wool, groceries, dry-goods, hardware, clothing, etc., which is carried on with great success and employs an army of workers.

In 1790 there were made in the households of Rhode Island 30,000 yards of woolen cloth, 25,265 yards of linen, and 5,858 yards of cotton; but the introduction of power spinning marked the commencement of a period of change in manufacturing from the old handicraft system to the modern factory system, the first introduction of this factory system being applied to the making of cotton yarns in the year 1790. From this time on manufacturing establishments began to increase in number, until about 1840 when Providence began to enjoy that wide reputation in the manufacturing world which gradually increased, until to-day the number of her manufacturing establishments is about 1,950; capital invested about $84,000,000; average number of wage-earners 45,000; total wages about $20,000,000; gross value of products about $88,500,000.

In 1900 the census office reported that the percentage of population in Providence increased from 37.9 per cent in 1880 to 41 per cent in 1900, while the percentage of the number of establishments decreased from 54.6 per cent in 1800 to 46.1 per cent in 1900. The products of the city formed 40.9 per cent of the total in 1880, this percentage increasing to 61.4 per cent in 1890 and decreasing to 42.4 per cent in 1900.

These percentages indicate that the tendency has been to a wider distribution of manufactures, decreasing the percentage in the principal cities. The commercial growth of the city for the past 50 years has not been phenomenal, but it has been a healthy advancement in capital invested, and in value of products, reflecting the solidity of the business interests here centred. The perpetuity of the high standing of the manufacturing and commercial interests of Providence is unquestionable, and the continued growth of this city, its trade and commerce founded upon sound business principles is assured, as is the high position it occupies in the financial world. Banks-Steadily the trend of banking interests is making toward the absorption of the smaller institutions by the larger, in Providence as in other large cities.

To-day (1904) the Providence Clearing House numbers 21 banks and trust companies, whereas when the clearing-house was established there were 34.

The Providence bank clearings for 1903, amounting to $354,165,000, were the largest ever recorded.

There are in Providence 15 national banks, 2 state banks, and 6 trust companies, with an aggregate capital invested amounting to $12,561,000. There are four savings banks in Providence whose combined deposits aggregate $45,000,000, the deposits of the national and state banks and trusts amounting to $87,500,000.

Soon after its passage in 1864, most of the state banks of Rhode Island availed themselves of the provisions of the Act of Congress, by which they became known as national banks. Within the last 50 years many private banking

houses have been established in Providence, that have exerted considerable influence in financial circles.

The first savings bank established in this city, the Providence Institution for Savings, was incorporated in 1819, the oldest bank being the Providence National, chartered in 1791; the next oldest bank after the Providence Institution for Savings, being the People's Savings Bank.

Population. The population of the city in 1902 was 181,000. In 1900 out of a total population of 175,597 there were 55,853 persons of foreign birth and 101,585 of foreign parentage. A majority of those of foreign birth came from the United Kingdom. The 101,585 persons of foreign parentage included 42,791 of Irish, 13,481 of English, 8,808 of Italian, and 6,000 of French Canadian parentage. The growth of the population since 1800 is shown by the following figures: (1800) 7,614; (1820) 11,767; (1840) 23,171; (1860) 50,666; (1880) 104,857; (1890) 132,146. In June 1890 a part of the town of Johnson was annexed to the city of Providence, thereby increasing the population approximately 8,500.

home-owners, and Providence is no exception. A manufacturing city is seldom a city of 38,516 families, and of these but 4,087 families In the population of 175,597 in 1900 there were owned their homes free, while 29,696 families

lived in hired homes.

Schools and Colleges.- On the ridge in the eastern side of the city stand the buildings of Brown University. Some of the quaint brick fine gymnasium and science laboratories were dormitories are over 100 years old, while the Near by is the school for boys and girls founded built but recently. (See BROWN UNIVERSITY.) by the Society of Friends in 1818. Other educational institutions in the city are the State normal school and the Rhode Island School of Design. The city has 100 public day schools as follows: 4 high schools, including a manual training school, 15 grammar, and 78 common schools, 8 schools for individual work, and 3 schools for backward children. The total number of teachers is 866, and at the last census there were 34,281 pupils. There are 18 evening schools and 24 kindergarten schools. The total number of children of school age, 5 years to 21 years, in 1900 was 47,928, of whom 40,090 were native- and 7,838 foreign-born; of these 26,416 were attending schools. The number of illiterate persons among those of native white parentage is very small, being but 180 in 1900; in that year the total number of illiterates was 10,029, of whom 8,607 were foreign born.

Clubs. A number of clubs include in their membership the leading business and professional men of the city. The more prominent clubs are the Hope, Union, University, Central, West Side, Squantum, and Pomham. The two latter have elegant club-houses on the shores of the bay, some miles below Providence, and have numbered some famous men among their guests.

Chief Buildings.- By far the most imposing structure in the city is the new State House, a massively proportioned building, built of white marble with a large central dome. It was occupied first in 1900. The city-hall, a heavy granite structure; the county court-house; the public library; the English high school buildings; and the Roman Catholic cathedral of Saint

Peter and Saint Paul are also worthy of note. The new union railway station, while not imposing, is commodious, pleasing in outline, and remarkably well designed. Of modern office buildings Providence has comparatively few for a city of its size, chiefly because its great manufacturing firms have offices at their works. There are, however, a number of commodious, substantial office buildings of modern construction, chief among which are the Bannigan Building, the Industrial Trust Building, the Union Trust Building, Butler Exchange, the Francis Building, the Studley Building, the Swarts Building, the Providence Washington Building, the Vaughan Building, the Lauderdale Building, Mercantile Block, the Tierney Building, the Equitable Building, the Barton Block, the Merchants Bank Building, the National Exchange Bank Building, the Lederer Building, and the Fletcher Building; other buildings of note are the Y. M. C. A. Building, the Manufacturers' Building, the Athenæum, the Puplic Library, and four of the largest department stores in New England, equaling any in metropolitan cities, namely, The Boston Store, Shepard's, O'Gorman's, and the Outlet. The Arcade, an old structure, was famous in its early days. In Exchange Square, fronting the railway station, stand the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, the handsome Bajnotti fountain, and an excellent equestrian statue of Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside. In Cathedral Square stands the Doyle Monument, erected in memory of the late Thomas A. Doyle, for 18 years mayor of the city of Providence; a man who, in his day, did more than any other individual to broaden and strengthen the commercial interests of the community of which he was the figure-head.

Hospitals and Charitable Institutions.- One of the first hospitals for insane persons established in this country, the Butler Hospital for the Insane, stands in beautiful grounds in the eastern part of the city on the Seekonk River. Other hospitals and asylums are the Rhode Island Hospital, the Rhode Island Homœopathic Hospital, the Dexter Asylum for Poor, Saint Joseph's Hospital, and the State Institution for

the Deaf.

Libraries.- One of the first public libraries in America is now represented by the Providence Athenæum which has some 62,000 volumes. The Public Library contains some 90.000 volumes housed in a handsome building recently erected. Other libraries in the city are the library of Brown University and those of the Rhode Island Historical Society, the Rhode Island Medical Society, and the Young Men's Christian Association.

Churches. Providence is the seat of an Episcopal and of a Roman Catholic bishop. The Roman Catholic cathedral of Saint Peter and Saint Paul is perhaps the most imposing church building in the city. Grace Church, almost cathedral in its interior decorations and arrangement, is known as the Bishop's Church of the Episcopal Diocese. The First Baptist Church associated from a religious point of view with Brown University since Revolutionary days, is an imposing reminder of the architecture of the period in which it was designed by Sir Christopher Wren. Saint John's Church, on North Main Street, is one of the oldest Episco

pal churches in New England, and the Beneficent Congregational Church, more commonly known as "The Round Top Church," on Weybosset Street, has long been associated with the religious life of Providence. Other churches whose edifices are both imposing and attractive are, the Church of the Mediator and the First Universalist, the Union Congregational, the Central Congregational, the Central Baptist, the First Congregational, the Trinity Methodist Episcopal, All Saints' Memorial, and Saint Stephen's Episcopal. The total number of religious buildings, churches, chapels, and missions in the city is 128, 110 of these being of various Protestant denominations and 18 Roman Catholic.

Parks.-There are altogether 18 parks in the city, having a total area of 530 acres. Of these Roger Williams Park is the largest, covering 103 acres. It contains a pretty little lake, children's play-grounds, a bronze statue of Roger Williams, and for its size is one of the most attractive city parks in this country.

Streets.-There are 235 miles of streets, of which 189 miles are covered with broken stone or gravel, 31 with granite blocks, 5 with cobblestones, and 5 with asphalt.

Government. The mayor is elected annually. A board of aldermen and a common council form the legislative. Most administrative officers are elected by the council, as are three park commissioners, the license and fire commissioners. The commissioner of public works is appointed by the mayor. The police force is under the direction of a police commissioner appointed by the State legislature.

Finance.-The assessed valuation of the city in 1902 was $197,873,000, of which $154,711,860 was real estate. The tax rate is $16.50 per $3,465,000 annually, of which $740,000 is spent $1,000. The city expenses now amount to about debt; $370,000 on the police department; and on schools, $640,000 for the interest on the city $355,000 on the fire department. The city obtains system cost $7,100,000 and includes 333 miles of its water supply from the Pawtuxet River; the distributing mains. The sewage of the city is emptied into Providence River some distance below the city, and there are in the city 192 miles of sewers. At the precipitation plant just north of Fields Point, the sewerage of the entire city is gathered into immense basins or tanks, where it is filtered, clarified, and emptied into the river a considerable distance below the point. This plant is of modern construction, and is considered one of the best in the country, having been erected by engineers of national reputation after a careful study of surrounding conditions.

Public Utilities.-The water, sewage and park systems of Providence have already been noticed. The local electric railway system is one of the best in the United States, and branches out into every accessible part of the adjoining towns. The Union Railway Company and the Providence Tramway Company have practically a monopoly of the streets used for transporting passengers and freight by electric-propelled cars. Their exclusive franchise lasts for 20 years from 1891, the conditions being the payment of a franchise tax not exceeding 5 per cent on gross earnings, and the maintenance of a portion of the streets which they occupy. The Providence Gas Company has an exclusive right for the

same period to supply illuminating and heating gas within the city limits. It pays a franchise tax of 3 per cent on gross earnings, after paying 8 per cent on capital stock, and making reasonable provision for maintenance and extension. If there is still a balance it is to be applied to reduction of the price of gas. The Narragansett Electric Lighting Company has an exclusive right for 20 years from 1892 for the supply of electric light in the city, the franchise tax not being less than 3, nor exceeding 5 per cent, this being determined each five years by arbitration. History. Providence was founded by that great apostle of religious liberty for the New World, Roger Williams, who arrived from England in Massachusetts Bay Colony in February 1631. He was well received by the Puritans, as a "godly minister," but because of his boldness in announcing his views regarding the power of magistrates in religious matters he was forced to seek refuge with the Pilgrims at Plymouth. Subsequently he went to Salem, where his convictions regarding religious freedom incurred the displeasure of the general court, and in January 1636 he was ordered to return to England; he refused and fled into the wilderness. Accompanied by five other men from Salem he had no fixed abode for weeks, but in June 1636 he began a settlement at a point a little north of the present site of Saint John's Church in Providence. Williams obtained a grant to lands covering what is now that part of Rhode Island west of Narragansett Bay, from the Indians, the earliest deed on record being a memorandum dated 24 March 1637. In 1640 articles of agreement were adopted by the settlers as the basis of the town government, all affairs being regulated by a monthly town meeting. A royal charter was obtained in 1644 uniting various settlements about the bay, as "Providence Plantations in the Narragansett Bay in New England.» Providence being on the mainland and more exposed to the attacks of Indians, grew less rapidly than Newport on the island of Rhode Island, and in 1676 was nearly deserted. Less favorably situated for shipping than Newport, Providence grew but slowly; in 1730 the population of Providence, which included four settlements, was 3.916. In 1750 the population of Newport was twice that of Providence, and in 1774 the population of the town of Providence proper was but 4,321, though by this time the population of Providence County was greater than that of Newport County.

The first notice of a school house in the town records appears in 1752. A charter for a college was granted in 1764, and Providence County raising the most money, the first building was erected at Providence in 1770. This was the beginning of Brown University. Providence was one of the first towns in America to have a public library, a set of books having been bought by subscription before 1754 by a company formed for that purpose. During the whole of the 18th century Providence was a quiet community, where people lived simply with few amusements. The first theatrical performance was given by an English company in 1762.

The first fire engine was purchased about 1755. The first advertisement of a regular stage line to Boston appears 1767; the stage made weekly trips. The first public market-house was erected in 1773.

In the disputes with England that preceded the outbreak of the Revolution, Providence took a considerable_part. The first overt act of resistance to England was the destruction of the armed schooner Gaspee in 1772. During the Revolution Newport was occupied by the British from 1776 to 1779, and the commerce of Providence was almost cut off by the British fleet, though a number of privateers hailing from Providence preyed on English commerce.

After the Revolution commerce slowly moved again, trade being with Europe, China, and Central and South American ports. In 1801 a fire destroyed property valued at $300,000, and in 1815 a great gale wrecked many vessels and did damage to the amount of $1,000,000. From this time on the growth of Providence was steady if not rapid, the population about doubling every 20 years. Government by town meeting proving inadequate to meet the public needs, a city charter was adopted in 1831. The history of Providence during the 19th century is largely that of industrial progress in this country, and reference to the great manufacturing establishments of the city is made elsewhere.

Bibliography- Bayles, History of Providence County) (1891); Greene, The Providence Plantations for Two Hundred and Fifty Years' (1886); for early history a brief historical sketch in Vol. XVIII. of the Tenth United States Census. The 'Early Records of the Town of Providence' has been published in 15 volumes (1892-9). GEORGE H. WEBB,

Secretary Chamber of Commerce.

Providence, in theology, signifies the foresight of God, with the concomitant notion of life and affairs. The belief in providence is his care as a guide and safeguarder of human of course founded on the doctrine of the existence of a Supreme Being, in which point it is opposed to atheism and to agnosticism. It also takes for granted the intervention of this SuPreme Being in human affairs, general or individual, in which it stands opposed to the Necesof some modern materialism of ancient Epicureans, and the fatalscientists, the ism of Mohammedanism. On this doctrine of Providence is based the reasonableness of prayer

sarianism

as evoking the aid and interference of the Supreme Being in mundane affairs.

Providence Plantations. See RHODE ISLAND, History.

Providence, Sisters of. See ORDERS, RELIG

Province, is a territory, section or district of a nation or government. Among the Romans a province was a district of conquered country, governed by a proconsul or proprætor. The first Roman province was Sicily, 241 B.C. From the time of Augustus they were divided into the senatorial provinces, and the imperial provinces. The latter comprised those which were most exposed to hostile inroads, and the administration of which was left entirely to the emperor under the pretense of sparing the senate and people the trouble of managing them, but in reality to keep the army in his own hands. Under the empire the provinces were much better governed than they had been under the republic. One reason of this was that the em

perors were more disposed to pay regard to the complaints of the provinces than the republican courts had been, for the latter were largely composed of men who had themselves profited, or who hoped to profit, by the same kind of maladministration with which the governors were charged, and were therefore always willing if possible to connive at such offenses. In addition to this the provincial governors under the empire received fixed salaries, which lessened the temptation to resort to illegal exactions to indemnify themselves for the expenses that they necessarily incurred in soliciting the office that was an indispensable condition of their governorship.

In modern times the term has been applied to colonies or to dependent countries at a distance, or to the different divisions of a kingdom itself. The name has sometimes been retained by independent states. Thus, the Republic of Holland, after it had thrown off the Spanish yoke, was called the United Provinces; and the Argentine Republic used to be called the United Provinces of La Plata. In the canon law the term is applied to the jurisdiction of an archbishop. In the Roman Catholic Church it is also given to the territorial divisions of an ecclesiastical order such as the Franciscans, as well as to those of the Propaganda.

Province House, a brick mansion in Washington Street, Boston, Mass., built in 1679, and occupied by numerous colonial governors. It was burned in 1864.

Provincetown, Mass., town, Barnstable County; at the extremity of Cape Cod, on Cape Cod Bay and on the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad. It was in the harbor of Provincetown that the Mayflower anchored in 1620 before going to Plymouth (q.v.), and that the Pilgrims prepared the compact by which their colony was to be governed. The town was not settled till 1680 and was incorporated in 1727. It has a large harbor, deep and well sheltered; it was formerly an important whaling town, but this industry has greatly declined. Its cod and mackerel fisheries are now its leading industries and there are several wholesale fish houses; it also contains oil factories, and small vessels and fishermen's boats are built. It has also been growing in popularity as a summer resort, and contains several hotels. It has a public library and a public high school. Pop. (1890) 4,642; (1900) 4,247.

Provo (prō'vō) City, Utah, county-seat of Utah County; on the Provo River, and on the Oregon Short Line and the Rio Grande Western R.R.'s; about 45 miles south of Salt Lake City. It was settled in 1849, and in 1851 was chartered as a city. It is in a region in which the principal occupations are agriculture, stockraising, and cultivation of fruit. The chief manufactures are flour, lumber, tin and iron roofing, woolen goods, and canned fruit. There is a large trade in farm products, live-stock, fruit, lumber, and in the importing of groceries and textiles. The place is visited by many tourists on account of the Provo Cañon, Utah Lake, and Bridal Veil Falls in the vicinity. It has the State Insane Asylum and a Mormon tabernacle. It is the seat of the Brigham Young Academy (Mormon). Pop. (1890) 5,159; (1900) 6,185.

Provoost, pro-vō', Samuel, American Protestant Episcopal bishop: b. New York 11 March 1742; d. there 6 Sept. 1815. He was graduated at King's College (now Columbia) in 1758, went to England to prepare for ordination, studied at Cambridge University, and was ordained deacon and priest in 1766. Returning to America, he became rector of Trinity Church, New York, the second of four successive rectors who were raised to the episcopate. Throughout the Revolution he took a firm stand in favor of the liberty of the colonies, and was chaplain to Congress in 1785 as well as to the United States Senate in 1789. After presiding at the general convention held in Wilmington in 1786 (the absent Seabury being the only bishop in America), he set sail for England in company with William White to receive Episcopal consecration. A special act of Parliament having been passed empowering the archbishops of Canterbury and York "to consecrate to the office of a Bishop persons being subjects or citizens of countries out of His Majesty's dominions," Provoost and White were consecrated by these prelates and the bishops of Bath and Wells and Peterborough in the chapel of Lambeth Palace, 4 Feb. 1787. Bishop Provoost resigned his see in 1801, but the House of Bishops declined to receive his resignation, of Dr. Benjamin Moore as assistant bishop. giving consent, however, to the consecration He was buried in Trinity churchyard.

Prov'ost, one who is set over others; one who is appointed to superintend or preside over something; the principal, head, or chief of certain establishments or bodies; applied to (1) a jailer; the keeper of a prison; (2) the heads or principals of several colleges in the English universities of Oxford and Cambridge; the principal of the University of Dublin.

Provost-marshal, in military affairs, an officer who takes cognizance of offenses against discipline, orders the arrest and the punishment of deserters and other offenders according to the sentence of a court-martial, and maintains order generally. See COURT-MARTIAL; MILITARY LAW.

Proxy, the agency of one person who acts as substitute for another. In Great Britain every member of the House of Lords was formerly permitted, on obtaining a nominal license from the crown, to appoint another lord of Parliament his proxy to vote for him in his absence. Only a spiritual lord could be proxy for a spiritual lord, and a temporal for a temporal lord, and no peer could hold more than two proxies at the same time. Proxies were never used in judicial business, or in committees of the House, nor could a proxy sign a protest. The practice of admitting proxies was discontinued in 1867. Shareholders in joint-stock companies may vote by proxy.

Prud'hommes, Conseils de, kon-sā-ē dė prů-dom, courts of conciliation in France for deciding small disputes between workmen and employers. The first councils called by this name in Paris were formed in 1296 in the reign of Philippe le Bel, when 24 prud'hommes were appointed to assist the provost of the merchants in settling disputes between merchants and manufacturers at the fairs and markets. After the revolution of 1848, at which period 75 towns

had conseils de prud'hommes, the whole legislation on this subject was revised. All the patrons and workers of industrial establishments within the circle of jurisdiction of the council of prud'hommes were made eligible as electors. In June 1853 a law was passed which, with some modifications, is still in force. The patrons and the workmen are formed into separate electoral colleges, for the latter including managers and foremen, each to elect an equal number of prud'hommes. The general council, besides the president and vice-president, is composed of an equal number of patrons and workers. The jurisdiction of the councils is summary and without appeal for sums under 200 francs; above that sum an appeal lies to the tribunals of commerce. The presidents and vice-presidents of the conseils de prud'hommes are appointed by the executive power, and need not belong to either of the classes from which the other members are chosen. The number of conseils de prud'hommes is now about 140.

Prud'den, Theophil Mitchell, American physician and author: b. Middlebury, Conn., 7 July 1849. He was graduated from the Sheffield Scientific School, Yale, in 1872. Besides contributing to the scientific literature of bacteria and their influence in disease, he has written entertainingly on these and other scientific topics for the general public. He is professor of pathology in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York. Among his writings are: 'Manual of Normal Histology;' 'Handbook of Pathological Anatomy and Histology (1885), with F. Delafield; Story of the Bacteria) (1899); 'Dust and its Danger'; 'Water and Ice Supplies' (1891).

Prudentius, proo-děn'shĭ-ŭs, Aurelius Publius Clemens, Christian hymn writer: b. Spain, probably at Saragossa, about 350; d. 410. He practised the profession of an advocate, and afterward became a functionary of the government. From a life of pleasure and worldliness he was reclaimed by his conversion to Christianity, retired to a cloister in his 57th year, and there spent the remainder of his life. It was during these latter years that he wrote the religious poems which have made his reputation as the greatest Christian poet of the 4th and 5th centuries in the Latin Church. This was the golden age of Latin patristic letters, and his contemporaries included Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine. It is quite evident that he was a profound student of classic latinity, for he shows a complete mastery of the epic and lyric metres of Roman literature, and at the same time these poetical works are purely Christian, full of devotional feeling and theological lore. His 'Liber Cathemerinon' consists of 12 religious poems for daily use; while Psychomachia is an allegorical description of the struggle between good and evil in the human soul. Peri Stephanon' is a metrical martyrology. Consult Glover, 'Life and Letters in the Fourth Century) (1901).

Prud'hon, Pierre, pē-ar prü-dôn, French painter: b. Cluny, Saône-et-Loire, 4 April 1758; d. Paris 16 Feb. 1823. He received his first instruction in his art at Dijon under Desvoges and in 1782 he took himself to Rome and formed his style on that of the 16th century masters, especially Correggio. He returned to Paris in 1769 and painted portraits, gaining with diffi

culty his living under the Terror. He gradually made himself known, although his misfortunes had been early aggravated by a marriage undertaken under circumstances of great imprudence; and in 1800 he became famous by his timely picture Truth Descending from Heaven.' In 1808 appeared in the Salon his 'Psyche Carried off by Zephyrus' and 'Crime Pursued by Justice and Divine Vengeance. From this time his position was assured. His importance in the history of French art history lies in the fact that he indicated a revolt from the cold classicalism of David, introduced freer and bolder pictorial effects than had so far obtained in French art, and utilized the emotional and sentimental resources which lie in the skilful distribution of light and shade in a picture. Consult: Clement, Prudhon, sa Vie et ses Euvres (1880); Gauthiez, Pierre Paul Prudhon' (1886).

Prue and I, a work by George William Curtis, first published in 1856. It is a series of sketches or meditations showing the enjoyment to be derived from even the most commonplace existence. The papers are supposed to be written by an old bookkeeper, who strolls down the street at dinner-time, and without envy watches the diners-out. But whatever the genial old bookkeeper is thinking or relating, his heart is full of his Prue, and from beginning to end it is always "Prue and I."

Prune, the dried fruit of certain varieties of plums, extensively cultivated in the Danubian principalities, France, and Italy, in Europe, and in recent years introduced into California, Oregon, and Washington, in the United States; a product of great commercial importance and nutritious qualities. Any variety of plum having the requisite percentage of sugar, plenty of solids and, when cured, will keep for a long time without deterioration, is suitable for making prunes. France produces annually 80,000,000 pounds of prunes of deservedly high reputation for size, perfect curing, and attractive manner of packing.

Prune growing was introduced into California in 1856, from scions imported from France, and in 1863 prunes were for the first time publicly exhibited as a California product. The first large orchard was planted in 1870, yet in 1903 the number of trees in the State was estimated at 2,000,000. Attempts have been made to cultivate the prune in other parts of the United States, but without success, owing to the absence of requisite conditions for curing. Cultivation has been successfully extended to Australia and South America, and these countries will ultimately prove formidable competitors in the trade. In California where the wet and dry seasons are absolutely defined, and from May until October rains are infrequent, never exceeding a fraction of an inch in volume, exist the best natural conditions for perfect curing of the prune. The fruit is not picked until perfectly ripe. It is then passed through a grader which separates the different sizes in order to secure uniformity in drying, as small fruit will dry in a shorter time than a larger grade. Next it is dipped into a weak solution of boiling lye to take off the bloom and facilitate curing. Sometimes the outer skin is punctured by needles so that the surplus moisture in the fruit may more readily escape. In large establishments an end