Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1902-08-21
CALIFORNIA FRUITS
A GREAT STATE AND SOME OF
ITS PRODUCTS.
OUR WONDERFUL SIGHTS
ders and Neglect the Surprising
Grandeur of America-Fruits Dis
cussed From Medical Stand
point.

1t seems more than passing strange
that every season there are so many
| people who cross the ocean to view
the foreign countries. Thousands OF
American citizens of wealth have
been abroad and done" the foreign
, countries, who have never stood en-.
, raptured before the mighty Niagara
| who have never beneld the lofty pin.
: nacles of Colorado bluffs and can.
yons; who have never crossed the
, great divide or travelled the great
J desert that leads onward to the land
Of fruits and flowers California No
| foreign country can equal, or, for that
matter, approach the ATTRACTIONS, the
magnitude of productions that Cali
! fornia offers to the nature lover or
the observing tourist.
! The state, with it's 15S,360 square
miles, is truly an immense nature en-
cyclopedia. It's mines, giant trees,
fruits, nuts, vegetables, are endless
sources of wealth. The mountains
continually snow-capped, look down
on fertile valleys bright with flowers
and fruits-that never are blighted by
winters icy touch. The variation
in the states climate is so great that
there are sections of perpetual ice
and snow, and at the same time other
sections where nature is ever clad
with her brightest colors; where
growth never ceases. From these
two extremes there is the usual eli
matte or temperature variations that
go to make up delightful results in
farming and fruit and grain growing.
1t seems California has sections that
are almost identical with nearly
every state in the union, when climate
and production are concerned.
/ w. H. Murray, representative of the
California Fruit Grower, says: Few
people in the east appreciate what a
big state California is in the matter
of area alone. 1t has coast line of
more than 700 miles and an average
breadth of more than 200 miles. The
number OF acres is calculated to be
101 $50, 400, near equal to New Eng
Combined The annual fresh fruit
shipments amount to $4,000 0n0
pounds; the cured fruit output, 70,
900 900 pounds; the D"une crop. no.
j 600 900: raisins, S5000000 pounds;
canned fruits and vegetables $780,
} 900; oranges and lemons, cars, 10000;
nuts, cars, $50; honey product, 3,OOO,-
900 pounds; vegetable shipments,
cars, $780,; beans, 100000 pounds !;
100000; wines and brandy, gallons,
% 100000; gold, $15,5OO 900. These
are some of the notable products of
the state, but there are almost end
less other industries that are also
wondrous sources of wealth. The
poultry industry is making rapid
strides, and, like nearly all of Cali
fornia's products, in many sections
the business is being conducted on a
|, large SCALE
Mr.. Murray is a great advocate of
ripe fruit as an aid to digestion, and
. concludes that a liberal ues of fruits
is beneficial to the general health OF
, mankind. He says: MANY drugs
, are taken which should be replaced in
a great measure by ripe fruits. Many
parents will more readily spend
money on injurious or even poisonous
sweets than they will on good, health
, full fruit, and fashionable society will
spend pounds on cakes, wines and
brandies, while they spend as many
shillings on the very thing they need
to keep them healthy-fruit. And as
for the amount of drugs swallowed
which should be replaced in a great
measure by fruit, it is beyond my pow
ers to calculate Millions upon mil
lions of pounds are spent annually
upon mercurial and other purgatives
most of which would be quite unnec
essary if the people would but look
upon fruit as a necessary article OF
diet.
Good ripe fruit contains a large
amount of sugar in a very easily di
gested form This sugar forms a light
nourishment, which, in conjunction
with bread, rice, ETC., forms a food es
peCially suitable for these warm col
onies; and when eaten with. say milk
or eggs, the whole forms the most
perfect and easily digestible food i'm
aginable. I received a book lately
written by a medical man advising
people to live entirely on fruits anG
nuts. l am not prepared to go so far
for, although l look upon fruit as an
excellent food, yet look upon it more
as a necessary adjunct than as per
feet food of itself At the end of a
heavy dinner we eat our cooked fruits
and when we want their digestive &C
ton even more developed, we take
them after dinner in their natural. I'M
cooked state as a dessert. In the past
ages instinct has taught men to dc
this; today science tells them why
they did it, and this same science tells
us that fruit should be eaten as an aid
to digestion of other foods much more
than it is now.
''Cultivated fruits. such as apples
pears, cherries. strawberries, grapes
etc, contain on analysis very similar
proportions of the same ingredients
which are about per cent. of grape
sugar per cent. of pectose. 1 pc
cent. of ma1ic and other acids and
per cent. of fesh-forming albumin
oids, with over 80 per cent. of water
Digestion depends upon the action o
peDsin in the stomach upon the food
which is greatly aided by the acid
of the stomach. Fats are digested b,
these acids and the bile from tn
liver. The acids and ectoes in fruit