108 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



of fruits will be such as not most fully to remunerate tlie wise 

 cultivator. 



And first. People of all ages and conditions of life enjoy 

 the delightful refreshment that the juices of fruits bestow, even 

 those who, not being cultivators themselves, vainly pretend to 

 care little for such things. Such men will eat their neighbors' 

 fruits fast enough, and, when they enter your house or grounds, 

 do not heed their professions or their pretence of a distaste 

 for fruits. Do not imagine that you will save your reputation, 

 and pears and apples too, by offering to them such dainties. 



Second. The fondness for the various unwholesome imita- 

 tions of fruits, such as cakes, custards, pastries, and confection- 

 ery, not only indicates a love for the real article, but the dis- 

 placement of these vile and noxious compounds would doubtless 

 have a most beneficial effect upon the health of our people ; for 

 there is no diet so salutary, so refreshing, and delightful, both 

 to the young and the old, as ripe fresh fruits. Indeed, there 

 are not a few diseases, for which fruits are the best remedy. 

 Those wdiose breakfast, or first food in the morning, is of fresh 

 fruits, seldom or never suffer from dyspepsia, constipation, in- 

 flammation, or bilious complaints of any kind. The acid of fruits 

 is a panacea for scurvy and eruptive disorders. Ripe peaches 

 are found to be a specific in summer complaints ; and the juices 

 of all fruits tend to drive humors to the surface, and to purify 

 the blood ; and whole families, with scrofulous tendencies, have 

 been saved and restored to blooming and elastic health, by 

 returning back to the simple fruit diet of nature. In these 

 respects, fruit is the antipodes of the mineral potash poison 

 that, in the form of saleratus and soda, is destroying the teeth, 

 stomach, and tissues of those of our countrymen who use such 

 an uncivilized diet. The principal element of the bile is a 

 sodaic alkali, and the natural acids of fruits stimulate the 

 secretions of the gastric juice, and, by uniting with the alkaline 

 secretions of the liver, purge the stomach and bowels of any 

 excess of bile, cleanse and purify the whole system, and render 

 all its secretions and motions natural and healthful. Carry the 

 puny children of our towns and cities, who have been brought 

 up on a miserable regimen, principally of meats, cakes, and 

 teas, into the free, open country, to feed on berries and fruits, 



