THE ORCHARD A RECREATION AND A PROFIT 49 



all cases, a beneficial effect upon health, while at the 

 same time it administers to a praiseworthy taste. The 

 various physiological and nutritional aspects of fruit 

 are hardly to be discussed at the present time. As an 

 article of diet alone fruits are unbalanced, that is, they 

 do not afford all the elements of nutrition in the proper 

 proportion. They are particularly deficient in the ele- 

 ments which restore the waste and build the new tissues 

 of the muscles and other nitrogenous portions of the 

 body. They are rich in carbohydrates and organic 

 acids, important food products having most intimate 

 relations to health. The acid of the apple and other 

 fruits of that kind is malic. The acid of the orange 

 and other citrus fruits is citric; while the acid of 

 grapes is tartaric. All of these acids in their natural 

 habitat are capable of being burned in the body and 

 yielding energy, and finally producing carbon dioxid, 

 which, uniting with the bases of the foods, produces the 

 carbonates and bicarbonates so essential to the proper 

 maintenance of the alkalinity of the small intestine and 

 of the blood. Fruits, therefore, become a powerful 

 safeguard against the evils of acid intoxication. Thus 

 it becomes the duty of the farmer, in his relations to 

 the health of his family, to supply a sufficient amount 

 of fruit for the necessities and needs of the year. 



It is far better, also, that he produce them himself 

 and thus gfet the benefit which the care of the orchard 

 confers, rather than to spend his hard earned money 

 in buying fruits of his neighbor. The orchard on the 

 farm, even if not a single bushel of fruit is sold, be- 

 comes a source of profit in the supplying of a highly 

 wholesome and in many respects indispensable diet. 



I have already told of the dangers which attend 

 the efforts of the unskilled to engage in fruit grow- 



