FRUIT AS FOOD 
in the history of the race, since such 
fruits as apples and pears have been un- 
der cultivation so long that the varieties 
now grown have scarcely any resemblance 
to the very small, woody, inferior fruit 
of the wild parent. As a country becomes 
more thickly settled, less and less re- 
liance can be placed on wild fruits, and the 
market gardener and fruit grower become 
of increasing importance. In the United 
States, strawberries, blackberries and 
raspberries are examples of fruits which 
are still eaten both wild and cultivated, 
and cranberries have so recently come un- 
der cultivation that many persons still 
think of them as a wild fruit. Huckle- 
berries and blueberries are practically un- 
known, except as they grow wild, though 
attempts are now being made to bring the 
blueberry to greater perfection under cul- 
tivation. Among little known wild fruits 
elderberries and scarlet haws or thorn 
apples, to give them their New England 
name, may be mentioned. Both are used 
for jelly making to some extent and the 
former for other purposes also, but as yet 
neither is considered as of much impor- 
tance. 
It would be difficult to say why some 
fruits which are considered to be fairly 
palatable and equal to others which are 
generally eaten have obtained so little 
popularity. For instance, both wild and 
cultivated mulberries have long been 
known and prized by many, but are per- 
haps unknown to the majority of persons 
and very little used. In the same way 
the medlar, a fruit closely related to 
the apple and common enough in parts of 
Europe, is almost unknown in the United 
States, though it could be readily grown, 
if desired. 
In some of our cultivated fruits, like 
the banana, seed is almost never found; 
in the case of others, for instance the 
orange, the seedless and seed-bearing var- 
ieties are both common; but in the ma- 
jority of fruits seeds are present in great- 
er or less abundance. It has been said 
that seedlessness is a result of long con- 
tinued cultivation, but it seems more prob- 
able that the seedless forms are due to 
the propagation and cultivation of natural 
1035 
sports without seeds. Seedless sports are 
by no means uncommon in wild fruits. 
Thus the native American persimmon is 
now and then found bearing seedless 
fruit, and such a form could be perpetuat- 
ed by horticulturists, if need be. The seed- 
less navel orange has been propagated in 
recent times from a seedless sport, and 
it seems very probable that bananas, 
though the wild forms are commonly full 
of seeds, were propagated from a seedless 
sport in times too remote for record. In- 
deed, it may be said that there is an al- 
most universal tendency to cultivate and 
perpetuate varieties in which seeds are 
few in number or small in size, and quite 
naturally, since such fruits are more con- 
venient to use and contain a higher pro- 
portion of nutritive material in a given 
bulk. 
In general, it is true that size, yield, 
color, flavor, texture, and chemical com- 
position are modified by cultivation. 
The commercial fruit grower, of course, 
desires a fruit of good appearance, hav- 
ing satisfactory shipping and keeping 
qualities, and too often the consumer is 
satisfied to accept a product in which such 
qualities predominate. Discriminating 
purchasers, however, will insist on good 
flavor, texture and cooking qualities as 
well, and such demands should be more 
often urged in order that quality may re- 
place appearance as a standard in cultivat- 
ing fruit for market 
Market Conditions and Fruit Supply 
The fruit market has been very great- 
ly modified and extended by improved 
methods of transportation and storage. A 
man need not be very old to remember the 
time when, at least in the Northern 
states, bananas were a comparative rar- 
ity outside the large cities, and oranges 
and lemons, though common commodities, 
were rather high in price. In the sum- 
mer there was an abundance of the com- 
mon garden fruits, but in winter apples 
were practically the only sort which was 
at all plentiful. A few years have wit- 
nessed a great change, and now there is 
hardly a village so small that bananas 
and other Southern fruits can not be pur- 
chased at reasonable prices. In Europe 
