The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1910-04-08
SKIN DEEP BEAUTY OF FRUIT
High Cultivation Doesn't Help in
EverY Way.

specimen from Oregon nearly as big
as ones two fists.
The customer had paid ten cents
for the big apple, while the basket
from which the little one came bore
a placard: Two for cents; for 1 0
cents" He looked at the small apple
and bit into 1t. Then his counten-
ance changed. why, that's the pet
ter apple of the two. It isn't much
for looks. but it has the flavor"
only poor people eat the good
old fashioned apples" said the fruit
man. New Workers who can afford
them will have nothing but the big,
red, rosy apples and that's where they
make a mistake. The big red apple
is the result of much grating and
culture, and size and color are al
most it's only merits. The little,
more natural, uncultured apple re-
tains the true apple flavor and the
meat is solid and smooth grained.
These new apples that might. be call
ed man-made are coarser and less
firm under the skin and the meat
is uneven. But they please the eye
and thousands of city people do not
know that there is any other kind.
THE horticulturists have improved
the size and color till it is nearly
impossible to get a really good, old
fashioned apple in the market. The
orchard men who produce apples for
the trade plant none but the improv-
ed trees, for they get more bulk of
IN hn 70
makes it possible to realize a much
better price.
Il was born and bred in the ap-
pie growing region of northern Ohio
and | know fruit. In my young days
we first had the July apples, about
July 4, then the August apple, both
fine, sweet, mellow, mealy apples that
got juicy when dead ripe. Our staple
apples in those days were the Rhode
Island Greening, northern spy, rambo,
sheep nose, pippin, winesap, and sew
eral varieties of russets. Every one
of these apples had distinctive fla
vor and their keeping qualities were
such that they followed each other
in order through the winter. Do you
see any of these apples in the fruit
stores of New York nowadays? Not
much. You'll find big, pithy, taste
less apples called kings and queens
of this and that which in our day
we should not have cared for at all.
mo, it isn't a change of taste. |
thought that maybe my palate was
less sensitive than when | was young
er and that perhaps winesap or a
sheep nose wouldn't taste as it once
did, but | got out into that Ohio APP
pie country last fall and | found the
old-fashioned apples just as good as
they used to be- They were hard to
find though, even there.
But apples are not the only things
that scientific development has spoil
ed. Peaches are not what they used
to be in flavor and texture, though
the size and color are better. Pears
have held their own more evenly.
Eastern and northern orchardmen
have been content to let California
and some parts of the south raise the
pears and as they depend largely
upon soil and climate, they have
flourished and held their old time
sweetness. But plums really have
been improved. Only a few years
ago a plum without a worm at the
heart was rare, and the various plum
tree blights weakened the trees till
they lacked the vitality to produce
good fruit. Means have been found
to kill the worms and with scientific
treatment the trees are gaining Vi
tality.
Among the vegetables | suppose
asparagus, celery, strawberries and
tomatoes have suffered most at the
hands of science. What man of 40
doesn't remember the little green as
paragus that was not bigger than
lead pencil and that cooks of that
day broke into inch lengths, stewed
i'm cream and served on bits of toasts
1t wasn't as pretty on the table as
the giant white stalks of to-day but
there was no lack of asparagus fla
vor
Don't you remember the celery
of yesteryear? Great plants, three
feet tall and bleached half way up
and the true celery flavor from root
to top leaf? Why, to make modern
celery taste like something more than
a drink of water they stuff it with
cheese.
And Standardization they have
'em so big that one makes two or
three bites, but they taste so much
like straw that the name seems we'll
given.
I'VE get beautiful red, smooth to-
matoes these days, big as a dinner
plate, but they are mostly pulp that
is tasteless and insipid. They used
to be smaller and less tempting, and
there were lots of seeds and juice,
but tomatoes didn't have to have
sauces and dressings to make them
palatable."