esulting mixture on the fire and cook it
until it is very stringy as it drops from the paddle. When stirring,
scrape the bottom of the kettle well as the mixture sticks very easily.

Run a half pound of figs through a grinder. When the gelatine mass is
cooked, as above, remove it from the fire, add a few drops of oil of
lemon or a teaspoonful of lemon extract, and thoroughly mix in the figs.
Dust a marble slab with confectioner's sugar, place candy bars in
position, and pour the mass between them so as to form about one-half
inch thick. If the candy is allowed to cool a little before it is poured
out, and is carefully stirred, the figs will not separate and come to
the top. Dust the top with the sugar and let it remain over night.

To finish the confection, cut it into squares by simply pressing the
knife down through it. Roll the pieces in confectioner's sugar, and pack
them in an air-tight box.

=Seaweed.=--This gelatine called for by this receipt is also known as
Japanese isinglass, agar-agar, and kanten. It is peculiar to Japan. It
is made from seaweed, the great unused resource of the western world.
The Orient alone to any extent uses seaweed as a food, and, of the
Orient, only Japan shows appreciation of its agricultural and commercial
value. Kanten is the product of five hundred manufacturing plants in
Japan, with an annual output of over three million pounds. The usual
commercial gelatine is made from animal tissues--skin, ligaments,
tendons, or the matrix of bones, particularly of horns and hoofs.
Seaweed as a source for gelatine appeals somewhat more to the
imagination!

Kanten is made from the gelidium family of seaweed which grows in deep
water upon the rocks. Coolies dive for the seaweed. They wash and dry it
by the seaside, and sell it at seven or eight cents a pound to the
factories for gelatine manufacture. The perfect purity of kanten is
proved by its use as a culture medium in bacteriological work.

Gelidium grows on both coasts of America from Canada to the Gulf. This
is true, also, of red laver which is largely used as a food in Japan and
unknown here. In Japan it is baked or toasted until crisp and used in
sauces and soups. It is palatable, and nutritious, being rich in
proteids. Red laver is not abundant in Japan and is being cultivated.
Sea farming is becoming an important industry under the supervision of
the government. The red laver beds are now rented out by the season to
the sea farmers