The Canadian Horticulturist. 159 



And as for the amount of drugs swallowed, which should be replaced in a great 

 measure by fruit, it is beyond my power to calculate. Millions upon millions 

 of pounds are spent annually upon mercurial and other purgatives, most of 

 which would be quite unnecessary if the people would but look upon fruit as a 

 necessary article of diet. The fruit grower of the future must try to so educate 

 the public mind, that this state of things will be altered." 



Another physician. Dr. Caldwell, writes, in the Memphis Medical Journal, 

 of fruit as an agency in preserving health and putting off old age and physical 

 decay : "In man there is a tendency, from the cradle to the grave, of a gradual 

 process of ossification from earthy deposits, consisting primarily of phosphates 

 and carbonates of lime combined with other calcareous salts. After middle 

 age the tendency becomes more marked and ends in senile decrepitude. The 

 majority of all who pass sixty-five years suffer from these deposits, the structure 

 of each organ is altered, and elasticity gives way to senile rigidity, and, sooner 

 or later, a vital part becomes involved. In considering the possibility of sus- 

 pending the advent of old age, it is consequently a matter of the highest moment 

 to ascertain what foods contain the smallest comparative quantity of those salts 

 which tend to accumulate in the system and obstruct the vital processes.'" The 

 cereals, he contends, are found to be the richest in them and should be used in 

 moderation. " Hence a diet composed principally of fruit, is best adapted for 

 preventing or suspending ossification." 



Dr. Benjafield tells us that " Garrod, the great London authority on gout 

 and rheumatism, advised his patients to take oranges, lemons, grapes, apples 

 and pears. Tardieu, the great French authority, maintains that the salts of 

 potash found so plentifully in fruit, are the chief agents in purifying the blood 

 from rheumatism and gouty poisons." 



That at this period fruit forms a larger part of our food than earlier in the 

 century, we owe to the more general knowledge of the laws which govern man's 

 organism and the necessity of obedience to them to avoid sickness, which is, 

 sooner or later, the punishment nature imposes for their disregard. Perhaps, 

 some present may remember when, over the medical world, Calomel was king 

 and the Lancet his prime minister, fruit was regarded more as a supplement to 

 a dinner, or to serve as an embellishment to our tables in the relation which 

 flowers occupy at present, very few knew its tonic properties when eaten before 

 breakfast or other meals. The most eminent physicians of our day now scoff 

 at many of the remedial agencies of the past and claim, as we have seen, that 

 in fruit we have a substitute more beneficial in its results, if regularly and judici- 

 ously used. As the popular knowledge of natural laws extended, fruit began to 

 assert its proper place, hence the demand for it called for a larger supply. In 

 furtherance of the fruit growing industry, organizations, like the present, un- 

 known early in the century, rapidly came into existence throughout the civilized 

 world. Yet, what a work is still to be done ! When we see the great multitude 



