The Canadian Horticulturist. 515 



THE SANITARY RESULTS OF A FRUIT DIET. 



HERE has been much said and written on the health-preserving 

 results of a free use of fruit as a diet, that it would seem as though 

 there was nothing more of interest to advance on that topic. Yet it 

 may be pardonable to throw out some thoughts at the risk of repeat- 

 ing what has been said, and that with a hope that some at least might 

 IS^-?^*' be profited by the effort. As a rule we need not expect the regular 

 "" practising M.D.'s, to recommend preventives to disease, and set forth 

 precautions to preserve health, when it puts money in their pockets to keep 

 people comfortably sick ; and if there is anything set forth by which you can 

 '* save a doctor's bill," by any one, if it must come from some one outside of 

 the medical craft, if we may make some allowance for the honorable exceptions. 

 The great majority of the " ills that flesh is heir to," arise from disordered 

 stomachs ! Indigestion is the great barrier to the happiness and welfare of a 

 large proportion of the human race, especially that portion distinguished for 

 " masterly inactivity," or those who are averse to manual labor. The out-of-door 

 workingman is seldom dyspeptic, but these of sedentary habits, and who are 

 closely confined indoors, must suffer more or less with inaction of the stomach 

 and bowels, unless their diet is made up of fruit of some kind. The cooling 

 effects of its use in the blood, and its stimulating power in the stomach, bowels 

 and kidneys, render it almost indispensable in the warm months of the year, 

 and it also comes in as a boon adjunct in the winter season, to add zest and 

 interest to a well-ordered repast. Who has not proved the profitable and in- 

 vigorating results of eating freely of baked apples ? They are real M.D. starvers, 

 as also are strawberries, sugar and cream, raspberries and ditto, and other fruits 

 in their season. As there is a marked sympathy between a well-ordered stomach 

 and a clear-acting brain, it becomes a matter of great concern, in the manage- 

 ment of all institutions where levelheadedness comes into play, that a healthy 

 sympathy be maintained, and if the larger proportion of the diet is required to 

 be fruit to preserve that desirable condition, why, of course make' use of it, 

 provided you can get it at a fair price. Apples at 50c. per bushel, strawberries 

 at 8c. per quart, and raspberries at loc, are a cheaper diet than all bread at 

 7c. per loaf, meat at loc. per pound, and other things in proportion, when we 

 add the ennui and doctor's bills to the other part of our estimate. Happiness in 

 this world after all, is made up of keeping the physical, intellectual and spiritual 

 organisms of our being, rightly balanced (of course including a well-balanced 

 debit and credit account), and if this balance so much includes the physical end 

 of our enjoyment, it certainly behooves us to preserve that, by a free use of fruit. 

 A habit of mental activity by reading and conversation, will keep our intel- 

 lectual machinery in good repair, while meditation. Scripture reading and daily 

 habit of secret prayer, will add much to a preservation of our spiritual status ; 

 but with all this, if our brains are clogged with venus from a sluggish 



