8 IXTRODrCTIOX. 



of their native tastes), that those communities of mankind 

 who habitually subsist, to a large proportion of their diet, on 

 animal food, are strikingly deficient in that activity and buoy- 

 ancy and elasticity which mark the character of the vegetable 

 and fruit-consuming classes. The diiference is not all, nor 

 nearly all, due to climate, as is generally supposed. The 

 Spaniard and the Frenchman occupy nearly similar climates, 

 and are very different in their temperaments. The former is 

 the grosser feeder, and lacks the activity and elasticity of the 

 latter. The Irish consume less meat than the British, and 

 here again we find the vim and buoyancy of character largely 

 predominant in the vegetable class. The Mexican and Cen- 

 tral American have lived on beef until they are a mass of 

 immobility, and have not the energy to pay the slight tribute 

 of labor which their teeming soil demands for the abundant 

 production of fruit and vegetables. And so on, through the 

 various nations of the earth, I have no doubt that careful en- 

 quiry would establish the rule that energy and activity and 

 elasticity of temper, and, consequently, a higher grade of 

 rational enjoyment, are marked characteristics of those who 

 subsist mostly on the lighter diet of fruit and vegetables. 



"But beyond this, there is an urgent appeal, just now, 

 arising from our peculiar condition and surroundings. We 

 are not raising anything like meat enough, within the present 

 arbitrary restriction of our State lines, to subsist our popula- 

 tion; and, until something happens to enable the white men 

 of the South to check the universal spirit of plunder which 

 pervades the negro population, it is in vain to hope that we 

 shall increase our domestic production of animal food. Here, 

 then, we find a market at every man's door for fruit and 

 vegetables, to substitute the enormous consumption of meat, 

 purchased from beyond our borders. And what is more cer- 

 tain, more economical, more healthful elements of subsistence 

 are not to be found than are furnished under the various 

 modes of preparation, which secure to us throughout the year 

 all the large and small fruits of our climate, and which it is 

 within the reach of all who have a few acres of land to culti- 

 vate and preserve. 



