32 • AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



organic acids which we find in the apple, helps to preven' 

 constipation. I have said that the minerals will build tissue. 

 Now they not only build tissue, but they help to regulate all of 

 the body functions. We need iron, for instance, in the blood, 

 in order that the oxygen may be carried to the different cells 

 of the body and that the carbon dioxide may be removed. We 

 need certain calcium salts in order that the heart may be con- 

 trolled and carry on its work normally. And so we might go 

 on, enumerating a large number of similar uses to which the 

 mineral salts are put in the body. They not only must be pres- 

 ent in every cell, but we must have certain ones present in our 

 diet in order that these regulatory functions may be carried 

 on, and the fruits are a good source for these mineral salts. 



In the selection and the types of food which we are going to 

 have in our diet we must have a balance in mineral matter. 

 If we eat large amounts of meat, and if, from the meats and 

 from the animal foods we derive a certain class of minerals 

 and of mineral salts which are acid, then we must have a 

 balance between these acid salts and the alkaline salts. We 

 want these salts to neutralize each other, and so we need to 

 neutralize the acid salts which we derive from the meats and 

 milk and eggs — we want to eat fruit and vegetables which will 

 supply those salts to make a balance in the body. The apple 

 is a good source for this. We have calcium, potassium, and 

 phosphorus in the apple, and these are some of the most impor- 

 tant minerals which we have to consider in our diet. We do 

 not want a lop-sided diet for a number of reasons. One reason 

 is, that we may have a balance between these mineral salts. 

 We do not want a diet that runs all to meat, milk and eggs, 

 without fruit and vegetables. We want a well-balanced diet, 

 in regard not only to protein content and the tissue building 

 foods, but in regard to the mineral foods. We have come to 

 find out that a food may contain all of the foodstuff' and the 

 constituents which we need in order to build body tissue and 

 to yield energy ; still, they may not be adequate to maintain 

 body growth and keep the body in a normal, healthful condi- 

 tion. We say that a food must contain the proteins, the tissue 

 builders, with water and mineral matter to aid in this building 

 of tissue, and that they must contain the energy producers, the 

 starches and sugars and fats, aided by the proteins. 



