STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 29 



can have it, and you may spread that information just as 

 widely as possible. If he wants it faster than we can get it 

 to him my mail, we will send it by telegraph if he cares to pay 

 for the toll charges. 



WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. 



PLACE OF THE APPLE IN THE DIET. 



Professor F. R. Freeman, Orono. 



I am not going to give an address ; I am going to give an 

 informal talk on fruits and some of the reasons why we should 

 have fruits more in our diet. I think that people often con- 

 sider fruits more or less as an accessory — something that should 

 be eaten and should be served for the sake of flavor, rather than 

 as a staple food. The census report for 1909 gives us a little 

 idea of the extent to which fruits are grown and cultivated in 

 this country, and gives us some idea of the comparative values 

 of these various crops. This report gives the small fruits valued 

 at practically $30,000,000, grapes at $22,000,000 and citrus fruits 

 at $22,000,000 — $74,000,000; the tropical fruits at $2,000,000 

 and the orchard fruits at $140,000,000. The orchard fruits, 

 therefore, are cultivated and grown to a much greater extent 

 than any of the others. The report says that, of the $140,- 

 000,000 of orchard fruits, three-fifths of that sum is made up 

 of the apple crop, which shows that the apple crop is the most 

 important fruit crop that we have in this country. 



Now, what is the composition of the apple, and why should we 

 use it in the diet? We have very little fat in the apple and very 

 little protein, but we have sugar, which is a carbohydrate, pres- 

 ent in about ten per cent; to be exact, ten and eight-tenths per 

 cent is the government analysis given for the apple as purchased. 

 Mineral matter is present to the amount of three-tenths of one 

 per cent, and the remainder is made up of water, so that we 

 have a large percentage of water in the apple, and on the face 

 of the fact, it looks as if the apple had a small food value. 



In order to get clearly in mind what the uses of the apple are 

 in the body, we should consider for a few moments, perhaps, 



