1050 
is used in very large quantities, being as 
much relished as cooked fruit, if in- 
deed it is not preferred to it. It has been 
suggested that the European prejudice 
against raw fruit may be an unconscious 
protest against insanitary methods of 
marketing or handling and the recogni- 
tion of cooking as a practical method of 
preventing the spread of disease by fruit 
accidentally soiled with fertilizers in the 
fields or with street dust. 
Overripe, Decayed and Unripe Fruit 
Overripe fruit is often injurious, very 
probably because it has begun to fer- 
ment, and stale or partially decayed 
fruit is obviously undesirable for food 
purposes. In addition to a deterioration 
in flavor there is always the possibility 
of digestive disturbance if such fruit is 
eaten raw. Of course, where apples are 
raised or where they are bought in large 
quantities for family use the thrifty 
housewife will sort them over and use 
for cooking the sound portions of those 
which have begun to decay. In such 
cases, however, the best available meth- 
ods of storing should be followed and 
sorting should be done at frequent inter- 
vals, for if decay has proceeded very far 
the flavor is without doubt injured. 
If fruits could be kept unbruised and 
with the skin unbroken, decay would 
be much delayed, as the mold spores, rots, 
etc., which cause decay, find their readi- 
est entrance through broken skins. That 
mechanical injuries are the principal 
causes of decay was shown in a study 
of citrus fruits. When the skin of an 
orange or lemon is broken the blue mold 
finds access to the wound, and under fav- 
orable conditions of moisture and tem- 
perature develops readily and causes de- 
cay. An examination of hundreds of 
boxes of California oranges showed that 
a large percentage of all the fruit was 
made susceptible to such decay by ac- 
cidental injuries to the skin in packing. 
It is not at all strange that decayed 
fruit should have a decided characteristic 
odor and flavor when we remember that 
the decay is very commonly caused by 
fungi, especially molds and rots, which 
penetrate the pulp and grow and develop 
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
rapidly. The fungi live upon the cell 
contents, particularly sugars and pro- 
teids, and produce bodies of marked 
chemical characteristics, including odor 
and flavor. It is said that the most un- 
pleasant effects are due to one of the com- 
mon molds. 
It is almost universally believed that 
green fruit is unwholesome and causes 
serious digestive disturbances, yet those 
who have been brought up in the coun- 
try know that if illness had always fol- 
lowed eating it there would have been 
few well children in the community in 
the summer. Recognizing that green 
fruit may be a cause of illness at times 
and at other times apparently harmless, 
two German scientists have recently car- 
ried on extensive studies to ascertain the 
truth of the matter. Chemical analyses 
were made of fruits of varying degrees 
of ripeness, and studies in which green 
fruit was eaten in considerable quanti- 
ties and under varying conditions were 
carried on with both animals and men. 
It appears from the results of the experi- 
ments that although unripe fruit is un- 
doubtedly often harmful, particularly for 
children, the danger from such foods, espe- 
cially green gooseberries, plums, pears and 
apples, when eaten raw, is less than is 
commonly thought, and the effects de- 
pend in marked degree upon individual 
peculiarities. 
The green fruit was found to contain 
the same chemical compounds as the ripe 
fruit, though in different proportions— 
that is, no chemical element was found 
in the green fruit which was foreign to 
the ripe fruit and which could be con- 
sidered in itself a cause for illness. The 
injurious effects of raw unripe fruit 
therefore, it appears, do not depend upon 
chemical constituents, but rather on the 
unusual proportions in which the con- 
stituents occur, and especially the large 
percentage of hard cell tissue, which, if 
imperfectly masticated, it will readily be 
seen, might be a source of digestive de- 
rangement. Possibly the excess of acid 
in the green fruit is also a cause of di- 
gestive disturbance. Cooked green fruit 
was found to be practically harmless, be- 
