The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1902-08-26
Fruit or Vegetable /?

Is a cucumber a fruit or vegetable?l
Ninety-nine out of every hundred
people, when asked this question, give
their inquisitor look of pity and say:
"Why it's a vegetable, of course" So
1t is in a way, or at least popular usage
has led it to be C. ed such, but pri-
marily it is not.
/ A cucumber is q fruit.
So are tomatoes, beans, peas pump
kins, squashes, gourds, peppers, etc.
There is nothing new in this statement.
Almost every one knows 1t II he would |
stop to think. But the fact remains,
nevertheless, that even people who |
handle these articles daily, and even
students of botany. are caught by the
lquestion. BY actual count, fifty people |
who had the query put to them, scoffed
at the assertion that a cucumber is a
fruit.
A discussion over this subject took
houses yesterday.
a basket Of green peppers was on the
sidewalk in front OF the store. Some
lone remarked to the commission man
that they looked nice, and that 1t was.
rather early for them. The reply was
that they certainly were fine speci-
mems, and rather remarkable for this
season, as they are q "fall fruit" His
hearers looked at him and then at the
peppers, and then some one asked him
. IL they were not peppers. The assur-
ance was given that they certainly
were peppers, and therefore were fruit,
: ''just the same as those cucumbers
Iare."
5 The commission man went on TO say
: that some years ago, he had had an
: and as the result, a wager was made
l and that the matter had been thor
oughly looked up at the time, and he,
therefore, knew what he was talking
E about.
n The dictionary and encyclopedias
, speak of peppers as fruit and cucum
4 bers are also referred to as "grser
:. fruit" but in the case of the cucumber
l. the books say that II has also been used
!, as a vegetable for hundreds OF years
. Before tomatoes were used as a vegeta
It BILE they were called love apples.
/ The definition Of the word fruit ex
70 plains the question fully.
|, It Is: 1.-THE pulpy mass connected
e with seeds Of various plants and trees
n especially such as are pleasant TO thu
It I taste and eaten by man and animal"
h Thesefore, it can be taken that an!
ID article containing seed is fruit and ais.
= a few that do not, such as the bananas
~ In botany, fruit Of towering plan
er Is spoken Of AS the matured seed and II
Z Icontents, together with accessory part
m rs become finally incorporated will
.. them. Thus In the bontanical sense
to not only apples, pears, peaches, toms
toes, figs, ETC., but all berries, nuts
IN grains, beans, peas, pumpkins. squashes
nj lcucumbers, melons and many othe
n, products are fruits. Popular usage has
a however, become much narrower. Tn
&c grains have been dropped, and the ter
dency is TO drop nuts also, so that frui
is now generally understood to be tn
or feshy, juicy product Of some plant, III
r, ually tree or shrub land nearly alway
Is containing seed), which, when ripe,
70 edible without cooking, and adapted fe
h use as u dessert rather than as salaa
III A vegetable in the popular sense
rs rs any part OF plant commonly used fe
culinary purposes, and may consist
the root as In the case Of the beet ar
. turnip; the stem as In asparagus ar
celery; tuber or underground stem ,
in the potato; the foliage, as In the ca
bage, or OF that which Is botanically Il
fruit, as in tomato, bean, pea. ct
Thus, while the tomato Is primarily
fruit, IL Is classed rs q vegetable I,
table use, and in the market ranks
such. The same may be said OF Il
\ pumpkin, squash and cucumber. TIL,
u are classed as vegetables, while bota
Ideally they are fruits and are Of Il
ii same family rs the melon, which
termed fruit only.