STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 5^ 



additional satisfaction in promoting the cultivation and consumption 

 of fruit, and not because of any special knowledge, that I venture 

 to ask your attention to some facts with reference to the '"Dietetics 

 of Fruit." By this expression I mean the uses of various fruits as 

 articles of diet in health as food, or as quasi-remedies to avert dis- 

 ease, or as corrective agents in disease itself. 



If I depart somewhat from the restricted field, which might perhaps 

 be implied by this title, it will, I hope, be pardoned, since a paper 

 dealing with familiar subjects in a popular way must always fall 

 short of its intended aim if loo technical in character. I should 

 also labor under the disadvantage of dealing with a subject neces- 

 sarily limited by the fact that, judged by the standard of nutritive 

 value alone, fruit has a field measurably limited At this day how use- 

 less a task would it be, to accumulate evidence of the general value 

 of fruit to man ; it has established itself as among our staple articles 

 of domestic use ; it has, b}- reason of the consequent demand, become 

 an article of commerce, involving large outlays of money for culti- 

 vation, and costly facilities for placing it before the consumer. 

 Indeed, its use and appreciation are almost universal, and this fact 

 alone makes more interesting to the student of dietetics his investi- 

 gations into the actual food value of fruit. Perhaps this value and 

 the true use of fruit may be more readily apparent if we consider 

 briefly the nature, use and services of food in general, since then we 

 shall be able to estimate just what in fruit is of use to the body, and 

 what reasons if an}' prevail, for such widely spread appreciation 

 as it receives. 



It is true that scientifically considered "we eat to live," but how, 

 profiting by that process, the body is enabled to live by eating, is a 

 matter which has been the subject of most elaborate experiment and 

 profound research, involving the labors of some of the most dis- 

 tinguished scientists and economists of the world. In considering 

 the question of food, we are dealing with substances which either 

 induce or contribute to certain chemical changes within, or of the 

 body, whereby its growth is promoted and preserved, and its waste 

 renewed. There are, in such a discussion, certain factors which 

 most prominently assert themselves, and which cannot be ignored, 

 and that they have a special bearing upon the use of fruit as an 

 article of diet, will be easily recognized. Not the least of these 

 factors of special interest to those of slender income, is : 



