November, 



THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



•261 



Man is an adaptable atiiinal and 

 from the dawn of creation he lias 

 broadly spoakin", lived on what 

 he covdd get rather than on what 

 he n;ight like. The ICsqinio, for 

 instance, cannot };et i)ineapplL>s and 

 peaches btit he does \ erv well on 

 l)lubl)er. The Fijian cannot <>ct 

 sirloins of beef or saddles ol 

 nmtton, so he lills up with 

 bananas. Climate is the decidino; 

 factor, and the Australian cli- 

 mate simply howls for large sup- 

 plies of fruit. To some extent 

 this is modified by the fact 

 that, broadly speaking, we are 

 of northern origin, the race comes 

 from' i a cooler climate and the call 

 for fruit is temipered bv ancestral in- 

 stincts which do not require so 

 much fruit, but the further we, as 

 a race, go, from the starting point 

 and the longer we are influenced 

 by climatic environment, the more 

 the natural call will be heard and 

 the less potent will the meat- 

 eating inherited instinct be felt. 

 Stated geographically, the abori- 

 ginal peoples on the equator oat 

 all fruit, thosie at the poles no 

 fruit, and tho.se between, a half 

 and half diet. ^ 



— The Real Question. — 



Two resolutions were passed in 

 connection with the sul^ject — "That 

 the Go\-ernment be requested' to 

 demonstrate the value of fruit 

 as a food," and also that " This 

 conference collect and publish a 

 bulletin containing 'every known 

 recipe and use of fruits." Both 

 are quite admirable as far as they 

 go but they really don't do more 

 than touch the fringe of the mat- 

 ter. Incidentally the second point 

 if acted on in the letter rather than 

 the spirit, raises appalling vi- 

 sions. T'erhaps it is intended to 

 provide a special building to house 

 the book which, in one sense ol^the 

 -word, will certainly be a magnum 

 opus, and provide special trains at 



xcursion fares to enable visitors 

 ■■o come and ^ee it for it woidd be 



bviouslv impossible to send it to 



hem. Hovyeyer, we can safely 



ass that point. 



— Interesting Evidence. — 



■Tile eyidenoe of Dr. Benj afield of 

 the extreme difficulty any resident 

 t Glenorchy finds in dying at 

 ■-hat favoured spot, four only hav- 

 ig accomplished it in the last 

 hree years out of i,ooo chances 

 nd the expedients vyhich residents 

 a neighbouring district resort 

 to in attaining the same end, also 

 'r. Fisher's contribtition towards 

 he theory of the^ coincidence of 

 uitgrowing and nongenarianism 

 -were interesting if not wholly con- 



vincing. Carrying the same prin- 

 cipal a Ivit furtiier one would ex- 

 pect iiduiliitants of some of the 

 South Sea islands to live for ever 

 and the bushman of the outhack 

 districts of the Commonwealth to 

 succumb at a distressingly tjarly^ 

 age. , Similarly the peasants of 

 South Ivurope, where the grape, 

 the fig, the date, the olive and the 

 onion make up a larg'e portion oi 

 the diet should be stronger and 

 longer lived than their northern 

 competitors, but according to 

 statistics the reverse is the case 

 and th^ Swede and Norwegian fish, 

 flesh and cereal eaters, out- 

 grow, out-work, and out-live the 

 southerners. 



— Preference not the t)nly Factor. — 

 Most people like champagne, 

 motor cars and fiish, but they do not 

 habitually indulge in them for the 

 simple reason that they cannot af- 

 ford them. They make the best 

 of plain water with something to 

 take the taste off, ride in tram 

 cars and moderate their desire for 

 fish. It is precisely the saine with 

 fruit. Put a dish of id. a lb. 

 grapes, apples, tomatoes, apricots, 

 cherries, or strawberries before 

 each of one hundred peopk and 90 

 per cent, of them will, like Oliver 

 Twist, ask for more. Put the same 

 fruit before them at i/- a lb. they 

 will tell you that they like it but 

 will leave the bu):ing to the mil- 

 lionaires of the community. They 

 will admit its palatability and hy- 

 gienic value but as to the former 

 they -v^ill do w th'out at the price 

 and for the latter wait till it 

 comes along and buy a bottle of 

 corn cure or painkiller or see a 

 doctor as being cheaper in the long 

 run. The average Australian does 

 not really want to be 'told of the 

 valu'e of fruit he knows it already. 

 He does not particularly want tc 

 know how to eat it, any small 

 boy win be happy to give a prac- 

 tical lesson, but what he does want 

 to know is how to pay for it as a 

 regular and extended item of daily ' 

 use. Dr. Benjafield hits the nail 

 right on the bead when he spoke 

 of the middleman's charges. They 

 are simply an outrageous tax on 

 the grower and on the public. It 

 is not that the middlemen are 

 unfair or make great profits, but 

 the system is wrong. Except with 

 apricots, grapes, cherries, and to- 

 matoes at certain limited periods 

 of the year, there is probably 

 no popular fruit in which the 

 retail buyer can purchase an 

 equivalent in tissue building and 

 energy producing material as in 

 m'eat and cereals at the same 

 cost. At high prices fruit must 

 depend on its palatability to secure 



A RECORD ! 



AULDANA 

 WINES . ■ 



ia eompaiition agaiiast «ll 



AUSTRALIA 



at ADSLAJDC WINB SHOWS. 



1904. CHAMPION CUP for 



HOCK 



1»06. CHAMPION CUP (cc 



CLARET 



1«06. CHAMPION CUP lor 



SHERRY 



BoticIm also niMj 



FIRST PRIZES 



to* mum«roua t« m«ati«n 

 Town Offiee : 



Australasia Chambers, 

 King Wm. St., Adelaide. 



ViB«r«nU akd C/«lIan : 



Magill, South Australia 



