Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-05-19
Stale Fruits and Vegetables.

We have some decided opinions upon
the deleterious effects on children es-
pecially and adults generally, of un-
ripe, wilted, green, overripe orpartially
decayed vegetables and fruits. The
vegetables of the city are not as the
vegetables of the country. Those of the
country are gathered and eaten in the
time Of their perfection and are healthy
and beneficial to the system. Those
which are usually bought in the market
in the city are brought long distances,
exposed to the sun, drying winds and
the noxious vapors of confined fruit and
vegetable cars, until they are totally
changed in their chemical constitution,
and are injurious to the stomach, and
dangerous especially to children. This
will account in a degree for the large
amount of sickness among children and
persons of feeble constitution in the
city more than in the country. There
is too great a greediness among not
only children but heads of families for
these early, unripe and partially de-
cayed vegetables and fruit. And in
this matter do not console yourself that
the specimens you buy are harmless
from the fact that they have a fresh
appearance. A potato when it decays
passes at once into utter dissolution.
This is not the case with most other
vegetables and fruits. The power of
assimilation by contact is quite uni
versal in all classes and varieties of de-
cay in vegetables as we'll as in animal
substances. And it is a depraved APP
petite that demands this unhealthyfood,
and the Judgment is weak and the head
a poor guide to parents and guardians
who buy these dangerous articles for
feeble and delicate stomachs of inno-
cent children.
The countryman when he gathers the
fully-matured vegetables and ripe fruits
from his fields knows that he is provid-
ing for himself and the precious ones
entrusted to his care the luscious gifts
from the goddess of health. The resi-
dent of the city when he buys these
things out of season in the place where
purchased knows they have been long
from the parent stem, and have gone
far in a change of their chemical ma
ture, and that he is catering to the god
dess of greedy traffic instead of health.
1t is we'll to pause and think of what
you are doing; health and life are
precious boons, too valuable to be sac
riticed to a craving appetite or a thought
less attention to the duties of life. We
should like to lay down some general
rules for purchasing vegetables and
fruits which will do for the entire sea-
sons practice:
/. Use fruits and vegetables only
when in prime condition.
2. Never allow in your house or offer
to your family berries or vegetables
when green, unripe, overripe, wilted OF
decayed.
3. It should be made a serious crime
to sell or buy fruits OF vegetables which
are so partially decayed that they have
to be sold at a reduced price.
4. Salads, lettuce, kale, cucumbers,
peas and green corn wilt under any Cir
cumstances in a few hours. They
should, therefore, only be eaten within
a few hours from the time they are
gathered.
5. Berries, melons, tomatoes and all
other juicy fruits have but a brief
healthy state, and should always be
treated with suspicion.-Iowa State
Rc0iSter.