128 
Shaddock  and  Forbidden  Fruit. 
J  Am.  Jour.  Puarm. 
I      March,  1396. 
on  all  sides  from  the  heavy  load  of  fruit.  The  illustration  of  the 
fruiting  branch  is  a  very  good  example  of  the  manner  in  which  the 
individual  branches  are  sometimes  crowded. 
The  liking  for  the  fruit  is  an  acquired  one,  in  the  majority  of 
cases,  as  the  impression  usually  formed,  when  the  fruit  is  tasted  for 
the  first  time,  is  that  it  resembles  a  poorly  flavored  orange  more 
than  anything  else.  Those  persons  who  have  cultivated  a  liking 
for  it  are,  in  most  cases,  enthusiastic  in  their  praises  of  it,  and  the 
prophylactic  and  curative  properties  attributed  to  it  by  some  of  its 
devotees  would  cause  it  to  rival  the  famous  elixir  vitae  in  efficacy. 
It  is  supposed  to  be  especially  beneficial  in  dyspepsia  and  stomach 
troubles,  and  it  is  probably  on  this  account  that  the  demand  for  the 
fruit  is  constantly  increasing.  A  recent  newspaper  article,  in  com- 
menting upon  the  inferiority  and  scarcity  of  this  year's  supply, 
referred  to  the  consumers  of  the  fruit  as  "  people  who  had  formed 
the  grape  fruit  habit,"  and  that  the  matter  is  a  serious  one,  from  the 
fact  that  "  it  requires  a  certain  amount  of  strength  of  mind  to  get 
accustomed  to  eating  the  fruit  without  sugar,  and  to  learn  to  appre- 
ciate the  bitter,  aromatic,  tantalizing  flavor  of  the  perfect  fruit. 
That  stage  once  reached,  one  is  exposed  to  the  temptation  of  cast- 
ing away  medicine  bottles  and  devoting  one's  self  to  the  fruit  instead." 
The  supplies  in  the  markets  of  the  northern  United  States  are  de- 
rived from  the  West  Indies  and  Florida,  the  fruit  from  the  latter 
source  being  preferred  by  those  who  are  supposed  to  be  able  to 
judge  correctly  of  its  quality.  The  importations  are  small,  com- 
pared with  other  fruits  from  the  same  ports,  but  are  steadily  increas- 
ing. The  late  frosts  in  the  spring  of  1895,  which  affected  such  a 
large  area  of  the  fruit-growing  districts  in  the  South,  were  espe- 
cially destructive  to  the  shaddock  trees,  so  that  the  Florida  crop 
was  almost  entirely  destroyed,  and  the  few  that  reached  the  Northern 
markets  were  inferior  to  those  of  former  years,  and  commanded  a  much 
higher  price.  Some  very  good  specimens  were  obtained  after  some 
difficulty,  and  were  examined  for  percentage  of  glucose,  citric  acid, 
etc.  While  in  search  of  samples  of  the  fruit  for  examination,  the 
author  was  fortunate  in  obtaining  one  of  extraordinary  size.  It  had 
been  packed  into  a  box  of  oranges  for  the  purpose  of  occupying 
space,  and  was  looked  upon  as  an  imposition  by  the  receiver,  who 
parted  with  it  for  a  fraction  of  the  sum  it  would  have  brought  at 
retail.    This  specimen  was  globose,  pale  yellow  in  color,  with  a 
