'^ ARE PIGS EPICURES? 187 



more or less than an attempt to show that there 

 can be no health or strength or enjoyment of 

 life unless we enjoy the right food the right way. 



IF ALL WERE EPICURES 



If everybody were as epicurean as I am, what 

 a different world this would be! How most of 

 the bad, mediocre, and good things would be 

 swept away, leaving only the best! Insipid 

 fruits, wilted vegetables, frozen fish and meats, 

 denatured bread and cereals, and all other 

 objectionable things would disappear, because 

 no one would buy them. Health, happiness, 

 and longevity would flourish as never before. 

 Everybody would have his own garden and raise 

 in it only the most improved vegetables, fruits, 

 and flowers, and Luther Burbank would, of 

 course, be Secretary of Horticulture. But, no! 

 I wouldn't have him leave his experimental 

 gardens at Santa Rosa and Sebastopol for all 

 the world. Wonderful things are brewing 

 there. 



Luther Burbank is a floral as well as a vege- 

 tarian and fruitarian epicure — for epicurism 

 includes aesthetics as well as gastronomy. Epi- 

 curus was right when he taught that mental 

 pleasures are keener than bodily joys. To eat 

 the improved Santa Rosa fruits and berries is a 

 delight, but it is not to be compared with the 

 thrills which the sight of Santa Rosa flowers 

 gives. 



