Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-08-16
Improvement IN BERRIES
Luscious Strawberry One Thing Not
to Be Tempered With.
THE PERFECT PIPPIN TO COME
New Foods That Will Be Brought
Forth From Tree and Bush.
Bizarre Growths.

question is suggested by an article In the
June Cornhill. i'm which MIR. frederick
Boyle discusses new fruits and old, ana
prophesies that 1.-THE next generation viii
see marvels." For himself, apparently. he
can think of nothing that could beat the
strawberry. He quotes the saying OF the
sage, Doubtless God could have made a
better fruit than the strawberry, but
doubtless He never did: but he seems 20
hesitate as To the possible addition OF
cream-in this like the magnificent bishop
who declared that his idea OF heaven was
eating strawberries to the sound OF the
trumpet Is such a fruit as Strawberries
and cream imaginable? In his childhood
Mr.. Boyle read of such a prodigy. 1t was
the cherimoya. II was to be eaten in Peru,
and his dreams We're of travel to Peru 10
eat II. The opportunity never came. In
stead. the cherimoya came to Covent Car
den. but as for Strawberries and cream, IL
had no resemblance.
Ideal Fruit.
An ideal fruit ought not to be very
large. 1t ought not to require a dinner
party to eat II, like pineapple. 1t must
not be thing at which to cut and come
again: that is the quality OF joint. a
perfect fruit the size Of pumpkin, stand
ing about on a sdeboard for casual break
fasters to slice at. is unthinkable indeed
the perfect fruit should require no knile.
1t should be capable of being cut delicate
ly with a silver instrument upon fine
china, or IT would not be true dessert
fruit; but 1t should be best eaten as nee
tarines are best eaten. plucked cool from
the tree in hot sunlight. 1t should De n
fruit of which a thirsty man would think
first: but IL must give nothing ike
draugft. or ii would have to be compared
with what is not fruit. and the perfect
fruit must be incompatible, neither must
ii be too small. 1t should be OF size 10
allure; ii cannot be as insignificant as a.
currant, nor even so slight as grape; the
eating of one more or less shouid DE an
event not an accident. Then Ii must
have color The color of a really good
fruit is one of the most important Things
possible; almost as important. indeed, as
the color of good wine. Glowing gods
and crimsons are the right colors TOT
fruits and wines: the deep amber of cram
pagnes. the clear ruby of a port which
DIR. Middleton would have hailed as sena-
torial
Question of Color.
A blue fruit, a gray fruit. a brown fruit
they would wither with Dead sea ap-
pies Green would not do; greengages
know that. and turn yellow and purple TO
ripen. Less important. but a great prop
erty OF a true fruit. is the scent 1here
is the durien of Malay. for instance; the
pulp is delicious. but the scent OF the
rind is intolerabe; people belong TO IA
ren clubs SO that they may eat the truit
and confine the rind to one house. But
an ideal fruit would have scent OF ex-
treme and buoyant delicacy: not scent
like stephanots or tuberoses. which can
be overpowering: nor like oranges. Whicn
can be pungent: but perhaps more or
scent Of out of doors, the scent that comes
down wind from Wet primroses and sweet
briar. or the scent of heather on hill
over the sea. or of blackberries under an
October sun. which is one OF the rarest.
for il has somewhere a hint or night ana
ice in il. Yet there should be hint. too,
Of "A 10 itl an G
cat grapes have such a scent. Finally II
must have a good name. IT is remarkable
how the fruits and vegetables name them
selves according to their qualities. Moth
ing could be more commonplace than tho
names of the ordinary vegetables. If YOU
look at them in q row-turnip. parsnip,
onion, potato. bean. cabbage and carrot
it is perfectly obvious at once that they
are plain. humdrum. edible things out OF
the kitchen garden: you could pretty well
tell an onion by its name. Lighter and
more graceful plants name themselves
lettuces. endives and celery. But the del
icate fruits are most distinct. Nothing
can excel a nectarine, though melon and
apricot just compare with II.
Henley saw that the best fruits were
named for poets. and brought them into
his 'Ballade Made in the Hot Weather.
..Of ice and glass the tinkle,
Pellucd. silver-shrill;
Peaches without q wrinkle;
Cherries and snow at WILL
From china bowls that fill
The senses with a sweet
Nervousness of heat
melons dripping shreds:
Cream-clotted Strawberries;
Dusk diaries set with curds-
To live, / think of these
Contrast with the fruits of the poets the
gooseberry. 1t is easy to see why goose
berries could not make a perfect dessert
fruit. Raspberries may come to table.
but that is only when you have never
heard them called ''rasps/ You can only
make "raSpS' into lam.
Strange Names.
The fruits to which Mr.. Boyle intro
duces his reader might have been set by
Edward Lear before the Lady Jingly
Jones. Eating them sounds like a joke.
They are fruits which Europeans seldom
taste. ''Of such in Malay countries are
the tarippe. most excellent of bread
fruits; the jintawan. as large as big
pear. very pleasantly acid-the plant Is
an india rubber vine. and the mesh lies In
thick envelope Of india rubber. Also
the bilimbing. mandaroit. langsat, luing
rambi-the last grows in punches like
large, very sweet grapes. Not one OF
these is cultivated 1 think. except the
langsat but all might become as re-
nowned as the pineapple or the mangos-
teen
Some of them, equally excellent. have no
names Twice a Dyak brought Mr.. Boyle
when he passed his field. "a quantity OF
heavenly food. but nv Malays could not
name Them nor could the Englishman I
asked recognize the description" Then
there is Dr. Beccaris Borneo fig. He de-
scribes il as bearing great punches OF
fine. red fruit; 1t is pleasantly acid, and
is the only fig that is not sweet. The
same country grows the guango, which
has six or eight seeds Embedded in a
sweet pulp. which all human beings like
and some think exquisite.
Guango, Maneko, Marula.
The guango. 1t seems. Is likely soon TO
be seen at Covent Garden; we shall all
buy guangos. The unknown fruits OF
British colonies would make admirable
dessert. In New Zealand they eat the
tawhara. and call IL mot bad which Is
said to be high praise i'm a climate that
will grow anything. The Matabeleland
maneko was described by Livingstone as
really excellent. II Is full Of glutinous
woody fiber. and about the size of a wal
nut. The Zulu marula is like a green
gage, with large stone and hardly any
pulp but with a sweet liquid instead.
Simply delicious" Who would neglect
the bododo of the wilds beyond the Kali
hari Desert? Sixty years ago the ex-
most too luscious for a white palates
Boyle had some to taste two years aeo
agreeable and that its perfume was
storative powers even more aston
n,