394 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



FKUITS 



FRUITS AND HEALTH. 



Strawberries vs. Drugs. — John Burroughs is responsible for the following : 

 Was it old Dr. Parr who said or sighed in his last illness, " 0, if I can only- 

 live till strawberries come!"? The old scholar imagined that if he could 

 weather till then the berries would carry him through. No doubt he had turned 

 from the drugs and the nostrums, or from the hateful food, to the memory of 

 the pungent, penetrating and unspeakably fresh quality of the strawberry, 

 with the deepest longing. The very thought of these crimson lobes, embody- 

 ing, as it were, the first glow and ardor of the young summer, and with their 

 power to unsheath the taste and spur the flagging appetite, made life seem 

 possible and desirable with him. The strawberry is always the hope of the in- 

 valid, and sometimes, no doubt, his salvation. It is the first and finest relish 

 among fruits, and well merits Dr. Boteler's memorable saying, that "doubtless 

 God might have made a better berry than the strawberry, but doubtless God 

 never did." 



Fruit Eaters Need no Doctors. — The Eural New Yorker says : 

 We were struck recently by the remarks of a doctor friend of ours, who 

 said no one thing will do so much to make people independent of the medical 

 profession as the daily free use of fruit. He had noticed that those farmers in 

 whose families fruit was regularly and largely consumed, seldom needed his 

 services. We thought what a pity that every farmer in the land could not be 

 convinced of these truths. It is a deplorable fact that farmers' families do 

 not enjoy that robust health that country air and outdoor life, with plenty of 

 exercise, should give. It is also a fact that living on farms whose rich acres 

 are aching to produce abundant crops of the "varied fruits, but very few have 

 plenty, and many never have any fruit, except it may be an occasional apple. 

 The standard food in a majority of farmers' houses consists largely of bread, 

 butter, and meat, (mostly pork j fried in grease, and where pastry or cake is 

 used, it has lard in large proportions in its composition; and this food is eaten 

 at least twice, and in many families, three times a day, year in and year out. 

 Is it any wonder that they are not more healthy, and that their prevailing dis- 

 eases are such as indicate an over consumption of greasy food? If fruits were 

 expensive or difficult to raise, there would be some excuse; but there is no part 

 of the country without plenty of varieties adapted to its soil and climate, and 

 just such as are fitted by nature to both nourish and cleanse the body, and no 

 more skill is required to grow them than to grow corn or wheat. 



Why is it that so few farmers make any attempt to provide an adequate 

 supply of what would add much to their pleasure, and save many times its cost 

 in doctor's bills, to say nothing of the sufferings and loss of their dear ones. 

 We entreat you, decide just now not to let another spring pass without plant- 

 ing a fruit yard. Surely it is better to grow fruit than to be continually dosing 

 with medicine. 



