74 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



tence of any superior or 'more useful fruit. Other fruits may be 

 more luscious, more delicate in flavor, more beautiful to the eye ;. 

 but the apple surpasses them all. If beautiful, they are transient, 

 while the hardy apple constantly ministers to the demands of our 

 tables and asserts a decided superiorit}- in its comparatively easy pro- 

 duction, its variety of flavor, its endurance both fresh, dried and 

 preserved, and in its multiplicity of uses as food. Besides affording 

 a welcome addition to the dessert, apples combine nutriment enough 

 with water and agreeable acids to render their use in the ripe state 

 highly beneficial ; their general eff'ect is mildly laxative. Apple 

 water, made by slicing up two good-sized apples in a quart of water, 

 allowing it to simmer and then boil down to a pint, makes a 

 most refreshing and cooling drink for patients suffering from febrile 

 affections. Whether stewed, fried, baked whole or in pies, or made 

 into jell}-, they form a most valuable diet, for by keeping the blood 

 supplied with those acids which are necessar}' to maintain its vitality, 

 they take the place of green vegetables at a time when such are dif- 

 ficult to procure, besides being, when thoroughly cooked, more easy 

 of digestion. Many a person who has arisen from long, exhausting 

 fevers, when the diet has been reduced to a minimum, or has con- 

 tinued with a wearying sameness for weeks, will always wish that 

 all foods could always taste as rich and satis yiog as that dish of 

 baked sweet apples and cream, which was the first solid food 

 allowed. I know of nothing which by judicious preparation may be 

 made to go so far in the dietary of the sick or well, with so little 

 expense, as the apple. Very sweet apples are not so useful as 

 those containing a moderate amount of acids, and the fruit, when 

 eaten raw, should be used in moderation ; half ripe or green it con- 

 tains so much vegetable fibre in place of water and sugar, that even 

 cooked it is inferior. The universal demand for apples is a good 

 proof of their excellence as an article of food, even if their percen- 

 tage of actual nutriment is low. 



The medicinal value of cider depends upon how much alcohol it 

 contains, and it care be taken to prevent the acetic acid formation 

 of vinegar, so that the sugar be entirely converted in fermentation, 

 it may be made to contain as much as nine per cent, a very large 

 amount, and the cider thereby becomes a dangerous foe to sobriety, 

 if freely indulged in. The true value of cider is, of course, in being 

 a liquid easily obtained, from which a most excellent vinegar can be- 

 prepared. The so-called acetic fermentation by which cider vinegar 



