282 State Horticultural Society, 



what is medicinal. Anything that has real medicinal value is al- 

 most certain to be unwholesome as a general article of diet. We 

 seldom or never acquire an abnormal taste or craving for what is 

 wholesome, but an almost uncontrollable appetite may be developed 

 for what, if properly used, may be considered medicinal. 



"Blessed are they that hunger and thirst," can be as truly 

 said of our bodily wants as of our spiritual necessities. "Blessed," 

 because hunger and thirst are indicative of health, and when in 

 health the plainest food tastes good, and with it we can be "filled." 

 Nothing gives more genuine pleasure than wholesome food and 

 good water to a hungry and thirsty man. 



Concerning the many kinds and classes of wholesome foods, 

 few should rank higher in importance and value than the common 

 fruits of our orchards and gardens. In satisfying our natural 

 appetite for fruit, fruit that is well matured, juicy and fine-flavored, 

 we probably reach the highest form of palate gratification with the 

 least possible digestive effort. 



Our ordinary fruits contain eight distinct substances or com- 

 pounds in greater or less proportions. These are: 



1. A large proportion of water, the usual amount ranging 

 from 85 to 90 per cent, of the total weight of fresh, well-matured 

 fruit. 



2. Sugar, in the form of grape and fruit sugar. The percent- 

 age is quite variable, ranging from about 1.5 per cent, in apricots 

 and peaches to about 12 per cent, in some varieties of grapes and 

 cherries. An average well-grown, fully matured apple contains 

 about 8 per cent, of sugar. 



3. Free organic acids, varying somewhat according to the 

 class of fruit, and usually of several kinds in each class, but alto- 

 gether forming usually something less than one per cent. The pre- 

 dominating acid in the apple and pear is malic; in the grape, tar- 

 taric, and in the orange and lemon, citric. 



4. Fats, oils and ethers, abundant in some mature fruits, 

 like the olive, occurring in small quantities in others, and in some 

 almost wholly wanting. 



5. Protein or nitrogenous compounds, forming a very small 

 proportion of most fruits, often not more than .2 of one per cent. 



6. Pectose, a substance which gives firmness to fruit, and 

 which, upon boiling, yields various fruit jellies. It often forms 

 from 2 to 3 or more per cent, of the weight. 



7. Cellulose and starch, the former often called vegetable 

 fibre, is the material that forms the cell wells, and is found in all 



