76 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



least of all. Sugars, acids and alkaline salts are furnished' by them 

 in varyiug proportions. The juicy fruits, like cherries, strawberries 

 and apples, are of the greatest value to those people who are j^rone 

 to acid secretions, and if the subjects of gout and rheumatism would 

 increase their fruit diet, it would save them money expended for 

 medicine. 



Fruit preserving was once a household matter, now^ it is an exten- 

 sive and profitable business. The attractive dried apples and other 

 fruit exposed for sale in our large city groceries, are no doubt 

 tempting to purchasers who can ill afford the more expensive canned 

 goods. Fruits prej^ared in this way are especially valuable at 

 seasons of the year when the fresh aiticle can only with difficulty be 

 procured. It is to be regrttted that for purely speculative reasons, 

 much of this fruit has been subjected to chemical treatment to make 

 a "nice white fruit," the price rising in proportion to the degree of 

 whiteness. "The use of the bleached fruit is not without risk," 

 says the bulletin of the Iowa State Board of Health. The bleaching 

 is done by exposing the green fruit tj the fumes of burning sulphur 

 in the evaporator, or often before the time of exposure, varying with 

 the degree of whiteness desired. 



Germany forbids the impoitation of American evaporated dried 

 apples, unless accompanied by a chemist's ceitificate that thev are 

 free from injurious substances, usually zinc, derived from galvanized 

 iron tiays used to hold the fruit in the evaporator. The burning 

 sulphur forms sulphurous acid, which in contact with the air and 

 water, becomes sulphuric acid, or oil of vitriol, which readily acts 

 upon all metals, even in very weak form. Bleaching always injures 

 the fruit flavor. The quality, and even variet}', of well known 

 fruits, if unbleached, can olten be told by the looks and taste, when 

 cooked, but when bleached, those made from good and poor fruit all 

 taste alike. The sale of dried fruits has materially suffered from 

 the over-doing of the evaporatoi business in 1888. Stewed fruits are 

 valuable, but are often objected to as causing acid fermentation and 

 flatulence. This is because of the addition of cane sugar. It would 

 be bttter, in the pieparation of such fruits, to neutralize the acidity 

 by the addition of an alkali like carbonate of soda, thus leaving its 

 natural sweetness. Such stewed fruit ought to be a regular addition 

 to the diet of those well advanced in years. Fruit has its uses in dis- 

 ease, but it is well always to remember that when one is sick, the diges- 

 tive organs are more or less affected, and whatever is given as food 



