BETTER FRUIT 



AN ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE PUBLISHED MONTHLY IN THE INTEREST OF MODERN. PROGRESSIVE FRUIT GROWING AND MARKETING 



Food Value of Fruits 



Address by E. S. Gill, Secretary Seattle Produce Association, Before the Seattle Rotary Club, December 5, 1917 



IF this great war accomplishes noth- 

 ing else of benefit for America, it 

 will almost be worth its cost in 

 what it is doing in teaching the people 

 thrift. Americans have been known for 

 years as the most extravagant people 

 on earth and in no way is this extrava- 

 gance more noted than in their waste 

 of food. In any other nation, the Amer- 

 ican garbage can would have been a 

 great source of wealth. Happily, we 

 are beginning a reformation in our 

 mode of living and are realizing that 

 the words. Economy, Thrift and In- 

 dustry have a very prominent place in 

 our vocabulary. We have been a na- 

 tion of meat eaters, eating more meat 

 than any other people, with the result 

 that we have been more subject to 

 stomach and intestinal troubles and 

 other diseases that are readily pre- 

 ventive than any other nation. 



The Russian-Japanese war was a 

 revelation to the world as to what 

 people could do whose main sustenance 

 consisted of a vegetable diet. Assisted 

 by their splendid medical service, the 

 Japanese suffered a less loss from sick- 

 ness and disease during that war than 

 any other nation had ever experienced 

 in war in the history of the world. 

 Their soldiers were free from disease 

 and taints in the blood and could with- 

 stand hardships, exposures and strain 

 as no other men had ever been able to 

 do before. 



With the necessity for practicing 

 economy in our consumption of food 

 in this country in order to furnish sup- 

 plies to our Allies, people now realize 

 that they can do with less meat than 

 they have been accustomed to in the 

 past. They are slowly learning to sub- 

 stitute fruits and vegetables for the 

 meat and wheat diet. But scarcely any 

 of us have gone as far in this direction 

 as we should and ultimately will go. 

 People do not eat as much fruits and 

 vegetables as they should. In the war 

 scare of one year ago, aided by short 

 crops in many of the staples, prices 

 went skyrocketing until people almost 

 ceased using such staples as potatoes 

 and onions, but there is no excuse for 

 such action now with the moderate 

 prices prevailing. 



The human body is made up of mil- 

 lions of small tells, somewhat as the 

 honeycomb is made up of great num- 

 bers of cells. The cells in the body are 

 so very small that they cannot he seen 

 without a powerful microspoce, hut 

 each of these microspoic cells must be 

 strong, if the whole body is to be .1 

 strong, healthy body. 



The American people have been espe- 

 cially neglectful in the use of fruit. Of 

 course, while we were a pioneer nation 



and the majority of our population 

 were living upon the farm, engaged in 

 pioneer work, they required a strong, 

 heavy diet, but now that the conditions 

 have changed, we have been slow to 

 change our methods of eating and to 

 adapt ourselves to the use of foods that 

 are more applicable to the occupations 

 in which we are now engaged. King of 

 all the fruits is the apple. You are all 

 familiar with the old saying, "An apple 

 a day keeps the doctor away," and I 

 want to tell you that I know from ex- 

 perience there is very much truth in 

 this old saying. If people would eat 

 apples, not simply one a day, but two 

 or three or four a day, they would be 

 very much healthier than they are and 

 would not feel the need of so much of 

 the heavier foods. The apple is a tonic 

 as well as a nutrient. There have been 

 many mystic traditions about the apple, 

 which has been credited with varied 

 potency. It is the healing fruit of the 

 Arabian tales. Latin chronicles and in- 

 stitutes and early English poems con- 

 tain many reference to it. Scientific 

 analysis of late years has justified all 

 the ancient glorifications of this fruit, 

 which has been found to contain albu- 

 men, sugar, gum, malic acid, gallic acid, 

 fiber, water and phosphorus. 



Malic acid of apples neutralizes the 

 excess of chalky matter caused by too 

 much meat and thereby helps to keep 

 us young. Apples are good for the 

 complexion, as their acids drive out 

 the noxious matters which cause skin 

 eruptions. They are good for the brain, 

 which those same noxious matters, if 

 retained, render sluggish. The acids of 

 the apple diminish the acidity of the 

 stomach that comes with some forms 

 of indigestion. 



Apples should be used very freely, 

 far more so than they are today. There 

 is no cheaper food on the market than 

 apples' at the prevailing prices. Good 

 cooking apples can be had at from 2% 

 to 3 cents a pound, while the best quali- 

 ty of eating apples can be had at 5 to 

 6 cents a pound, these being retail 

 prices; at 3 cents a pound, apples cost 

 but 1 cent per 100 calories, or 2 cents 

 per 100 calories for the best variety of 

 eating apples at 6 cents per pound, or 

 1.6 cents for the high quality apples at 

 5 cents per pound and the good old 

 apple i - ie at 25 cents per pound costs 

 but 2 cents per 100 calories. 



Other fruits in the market at the 

 present time, such as bananas, grapes 

 and oranges cost more, but even these 

 are not high priced considering their 



District Display Prize Winner, 

 Yakima Valley's district display :ii Tenth National Apple show. Spokane, November 19-24, 1917, 

 Various commercial packs were shown and all <>i the fruit on display scored unusually high. 



