Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1857-08-06
Fruit and Health.

Fruit and health! !" exclaimes the timid
reader, long accustomed to associate fruit
with sickness. Fruit and disease, rather
fruit and ague, fruit and cholera morbus,
cholera infantumn, cholera asphyxia!
"Of all autumnal fruits beware,
Unless in sorrow you would share"
"Fruit ruins the teeth, disorders the stom-
ath, spoils the complexion, generates worms.
Eaten 10 safety it is injurious to persons of
all ages but especially so to children
1t is strange that such stuff as this has
been current for ages as sound medical doe
trine That Il bountiful Providence should
have spread before US such a share-should
have covered over our earth with Injuries
which tempt the palate only to bring suffer-
ing The very reverse is the truth. No
thing is so healthiu as fruit. 1t is most ei-
fectual in averting disease. [ am sure the
doctors have been honest in the opinions they
have held on this subject, and that they
thought they were subscribing the public good
in creating and maintaining this prejudice
against these choice gifts of the Creator
but, assuredly, if they were deliberatel " set
ting about some scheme for multiplying the
number of their patients, they could not ca
silly devise a surerer one than to dlscounte-
nance the general use Of fruits. And we are
glad to perceive that such is coming to be
the general conviction of those from whom
we are accustomed to receive opinion on all
matters relating to health. 1t is now univer-
sally known that scurvy-onee the dreaded
sc6arge'o of sediments entirely underline con.
troll of regimen, and that nothing is easier
than to prevent it by fruits and fresh yegcta-
blcs. Sailors now circumnayigate the globe
without any fear of u malady in which medl,
cine is unavaiIing, and which, before the in.
PRODUCTION of vegetable acids and the potato
into their bills Of fare, swept off crew after
crew in their longer voyages. 1t is not SC
generally understood that people on land have
suffered in the last few years, and are suffer
ing STILL here in our own plentiful Kentucky
with this same disease, for the want Of these
acids and sncculent vegetables. In 1855
after the failure of the potato crop, scurvy
was rather prevalent disease in Louisville
but so unwonted that the physicians, it il
said, failed to recognize it on its first appear
ance, and this season again,owing to the same
scarcity of fresh vegetables, some cases have
been reported.
1t hardly admits of a doubt that what has
been said Of scuvy is equally true of nu
merous other complaints which flesh ha'
seemed the unhappy "heir to-" and thatmany
of our disorders, new deemed inevitable, vii
prove to be quite under the control Of thos'
products Of the earth for which the cravin!
of the human appetite is most intense anc
universal The season of fruit is at hand
and let us be thankful that the precious BOOB
promises to be abundant. Let all who cal
obtain it, partake Of it freely, not as a tenn
porary qualification merely, but as promotiv'
of digestion and sound health and if al
cannot indulge in the dclicacies which come
earliest, let the little ones have the frs
share. Their young palates relish the luscious
things most keenly, and their growing, tende
frames are most in need of the materials
which acid fruits supply, Our fruit-grower
are among onr. tue public benefactors, Ever,
man who pEntyan orchard is contributing tt
the public health We want more fruit
much more than is now produced. 1t is
great misfortune to the community that straw
berries az, not cultivated in greater profu
sion-zthe berry which comes first t., regal
the allaas-sarr %:tGsAsas< er~;. e5y sse--+ .
WHICH, the devout old English divine said
that doubtless, God could have made bet
ter berry than the strawberry, but He neve
did" Where one acrc'is now planted il
Strawberries, there ought to be five. The
ought TO be brought within the reach, no
only Of humble mechanics, but of every da,
laborcrs. But this is not the time to urg
the cultivation OF fruits; the object Of thi
dc3ultory remark is to remind our readers
that the period is approaching when they arr
to avail themselves Of that greatest of i'm
provcments made in modern times in the Gu
linary art-the preservation of fresh fruits
Let no housekeeper neglect the opportunity
remembering that in providing an ample sup
ply of these luXuries they are taking the hes
steps for preserving the health of their fam
ilics