Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-19
THE VALUE OF FRUIT
ITS IMPORTANCE BOTH AS CROP
AND FOOD.

James Long, in the Manchester Guardian.
1 recently had the advantage, in visiting
group OF small holdings. of seeing some.
thing of the work of the strawberry and
apple grower. l take an instance-one of O
number of similar character-in which
strawberries covered a quarter OF the area
Of five-acre holding. On this compara-
lively small plot a crop was grown which
realized $50 In the market, the work be-
ing practically all performed by the holder
and his wife. These persons, like their
neighbors, had originally been engaged In
mechanical work, and simply acquired their
knowledge of fruit culture, like the straw
berry growers of Botley, from those who
had picked 1t up before them. In another
case grower owning a larger area of land
was combining himself to potatoes his
arabic and apples and plums on his planted
land. The plantation, five or six acres in
extent, is five years old, and Is being sup
plemented by another for which young
trees have been produced on the property;
and thus 1t is that the beginner compelled
at first to buy his trees from the nursery
man, Is able to extend his acreage by
growing them for himself, avoiding a cost
which Is always serious item Just as
the strawberry grower referred to by do
ing his own work grows the best fruit and
keeps 1t clean with straw, seeking to OBJ
tain early and late crops, either OF which
realize better prices than the main crop, SO
does the apple grower by systematic and
continuous experimentation fruit culture is
all experiment-seek to ascertain which
varieties suit his soil and climate best. and
how to produce large and certain crop
by careful pruning and by spraying in
life.
The Bush Tree.
The advantage Of the bush tree is that
the branches, like the fruit, within
reach OF the hands, so that pruning is
rendered easy, the tree kept open, and the
fruit hand-picked, and thus, too, the best
fruit can be picked when IT is fittest for
the market, carefully sorted and packed.
and sold to realize the highest price. The
H,,IIv all hi
Just as eggs are now handled separately,
sorted into sizes and colors, and, II is to
be feared, in too many cases, sold as news
laid, when they have crossed the sea, SO
will the apple grower of the future pay
attention to every individual fruit, that It
may be presented in boxes or baskets to
the buyer In its most attractive condition.
The return of the strawberry grower is
much more rapid than that of the apple
grower who plants his own land but 1t
cannot be doubted, bearing in mind the re-
suits of the last season, that, next to the
very earliest fruit, late fruit-that available
up to August 10, for examples the most
profitable. On many heavy soils black cur
rants. If free from disease, are profitable;
on many medium soils gooseberries pay
well, and in one case 1 walked through
plantation of some twenty acres in area
which the owner was content to Sell an
nually at G13 acre, for others to pick
and 10 market, which, 1 believe, they did
with great advantage to themselves The
cost to the owner of the plantation was
manuring, and the replacing Of dead bushes.
To sell well. fruit should be attractive in
color as In flavor, which 1t chiefly owes to
the sugars and acids, chiefly malic and
citric, it contains
Bananas and Grapes.
As to the value of fruit as food, we have
only to consult reliable data showing Of
what it is composed. For instance, the fuel
value Of a pound of bananas or grapes Is
three times large as that of a pound of
ND rol, Ia hon in, hn
case of the apple, the fig or the currant, all
of which are much superior to the orange
or the pear, the value of which in this re-
spect is very low-but little, indeed, above
that of the watermelon. The water con-
tents Of fresh fruits vary, for example.
from seventy-five in the banana to ninety
two in the watermelon. Few fruits contain
more than ~ per cent of protein, which is
poor in the apple and the peach while the
sugar and similar carbohydrates are rich
est in the banana among fruits known in
this country, the pear, the cherry, the grape
and the apple, the last-named containing
some 10 per cent, while the banana con-
tains p per cent.
A change takes place in the relative pro-
portions of feeding matter and water when
fruit is dried. Here the pear takes prece-
dence of the apple and the banana. The
the raisin and the fig. The raisin, for exc
ample, contains 70 per cent of carbohy-
drates, against 80 in the banana and 81
in the apple, but 1t is closely approached
in almost all cases dried fruits poor in
protein, or muscle-making matter, the apple
standing at H. the banana 5A, the pear
d. the rasin and the currant ~ and the
raspberry n. the last-named when dried
containing very small quantity OF water.
In the apple, which is so often regarded as
a model fruit, % per cent is refuse, while
50 per cent of the edible portion consists Of
water; but the banana, rightly considered
as a useful food, contains 30 per cent Of
refuse.