The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-06-29
SKIN DEEP BEAUTY OF FRUIT
High Cultivation Doesn't help in Every,
Hay-:AppleS Are Striking Proof Of This,
Says a Dealer Tomatoes, Too, Have
Lost in FlaVcr More Than They Have
Gained in Size and SmoothlesS. u

just bought and eaten a fine rosy
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 n came bore
a placard: Two for five cents; five
for ten cents" He looked at the
small apple and bit into it. Then his
c~ountenance changed. why, that's
the better apple of the two. 1t isn't
much for looks, but it has the fla
vor."
"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 almost
it's only merits. The little, more nat
ural, uncultured apple retains the
true apple flavor and the meat is solid
and smooth grained. These new ap-
pies that might be called 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 i'm
possible to get a really good, old
fashioned apple in the market. The
orchard men who produce apples for
the trade plant none but the i'm
proved trees, for they get more bulk
of apple to the acre and the appear
ance makes it possible to realize a
much better price.
81 was born and bred in the apple
growing region of northern Ohio and
I know fruit. In my young days We
first had the July apples, about July
4, then the August apple, both fine,
sweet, mellow, Lealy apples that got
Juicy when dead ripe. Our staple APP
pies in those days were the Rhode
Island greening, northern spy, ranbo,
sheep nose, pippin, winesap and sew
sral varieties of russets. Every one
If these apples had a distinctive flavor
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, tasteless ap-
pies called kings and queens OF this
and that which in u day we should
not have cared for at all.
mo, it isn't a change OF taste. l
thought that maybe my palate. was
less sensitive than when / was
younger and that perhaps a winesap
OF a sheep nose wouldn't taste as it
once did, but I got out into that Ohio
apple country last fall and 1 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
spoiled. 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 even
ly. Eastern and Northern orchard
men have been content to let Cali
fornia and some parts of the South
raise the pears and as they depend
largely Upon soil and climate they.
have fourished 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 pro-
duce GOOD fruit. Means have been
found to kill the worms and with sci
entifc treatment the trees are gain
ing vitality.
Among the vegetables I suppose
asparagus, celery, strawberries and
tomatoes have suffered most at q
hands of science. What man Of
forty doesn't remember the little
green asparagus that was not bigger
than a lead pencil and that cooks
of that day broke into inch lengths,
stewed in cream and served on bits
of toast? 1t wasn't as pretty on the
table as the giant white stalks OF to-
day, but there was no lack of aspar-
agus flavor.
Don't you remember the celery OF
yesteryear? Great plants, three feet
tall and bleached half way up n
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 nave
'em so big that n makes two or
three bites. but they taste so much
like straw that the name seems we'll
given.
I'VE get beautiful rcd, 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 palat-
able."-New York Sun.