ABSTRACTS. 



311 



1899-1901). — A rather inconclusive report on the probable sufficiency and 

 advantages of a purely fruitarian or vegetarian diet. The first series of 

 investigations was made with a family belonging to the stricter sect of 

 fruitarians, that is, rejecting not only milk and eggs, but all cooked food 

 and all cereals, and living entirely on fresh and dried fruit, olive oil, 

 honey, and nuts. By chemical analysis this dietary is shown to be 

 seriously deficient, according to the received American standard, in 

 protein, carbohydrates, and fuel value ; but as the only family under 

 observation consisted of two under-sized women, taking only light 

 exercise, and of three children, and as all these seemed to enjoy ordinary 

 health, it would be hardly fair to conclude either that the undeveloped 

 condition of the youngest child was due to insufficient nourishment, or 

 that the foods provided would be enough for a man taking severe exercise. 

 The cost of living under the above conditions works out almost exactly at 

 what has been proved to be the average expenditure per day of the 

 ordinary American in comfortable circumstances, even including the cost 

 of the fuel he needs to prepare his food, whereas the fruitarians devoured 

 theirs raw, and it must be remembered that this was in California, where 

 fruit is plentiful, and in late summer, when it is at its cheapest. 



The report further gives the result of careful analyses of the food 

 values of three different groups of Chinese settled in America and 

 answering to our professional class, artisan class, and labourer class. 



The inquiries were started under the usual impression that Chinese 

 live almost exclusively on rice ; but as on investigation it turned out that 

 though some of their foodstuffs were national and unknown to Americans, 

 the diet of these emigrated Chinese, at all events, was almost identical in 

 cost, variety, and proportion with that of the corresponding classes in 

 America, these results also seem to point no particular moral. — M. L. H, 



Fruit Culture. By W. Munson (U.S.A. Dep. Agr. Maine Bull. 

 vol. i. No. 1 ; March 1902). — Pruning — Trees on a warm southern slope, 

 freely exposed to the winds, require much less pruning than do those in 

 a cool sheltered location which is lacking in sunshine. Plenty of light 

 is essential to the production of highly coloured fruit. If the trees have 

 been long neglected and require heavy pruning, do not remove all the 

 wood the first year. Kemoval of a portion of the top, and so distributing 

 the food gathered by the roots to a smaller number of branches, tends to 

 produce rapid growth and a renewed vigour of the tree. The removal of 

 too much at one time will start the growth of water-sprouts and defeat 

 the very purpose in view. The time of year at which the cut is made has 

 little effect on the readiness with which the wound heals. Wounds 

 should be covered immediately with a coat of paint to keep out moisture 

 and spores. The best season for pruning in Maine is said to be on warm 

 days from January to May. 



Begrafting. — Young trees may be retopped by grafting in a single 

 season, a tree eight or ten years old in two years, and one of twenty or 

 more years in three seasons. The best method of top grafting is not to 

 make a few limbs the basis of the new top, but to remove a larger number 

 of small limbs ranging from one to two inches in diameter. The split 

 should be made in a horizontal position, so that the scions should not be 



