flavor and appearance of quince marmalade. The pulp surrounds a single seed, one side of which is attached to the flesh, while the other side is free, smooth and highly polished. The fruit is about five inches long and has a rusty, greenish colored skin.

THE STAR APPLE.-The star apple is a large purple or rose colored drupe of the N. O. Sapotaceæ. The interior consists of an outer purple portion which is fibrous and not edible. The inner portion is white and glutinous and divided into ten compartments, each containing a seed enclosed in a gelatinous pulp of characteristic flavor.

ANACARDIACEOUS FRUITS

Varieties of Anacardiaceous Fruits THE MANGO FRUIT.-Mango fruit is a native of Asia, held in high esteem in tropical climates and cultivated in all Oriental countries. The fruit is flat or kidney shaped, reddish brown or like an apricot in color. It is about the size of an apple and has a most agreeable juice. The mango cuts like an apple but is much more agreeable; the pulp has a pleasant acid taste and sweet, aromatic perfume. It is eaten raw, cooked in pies or tarts, in preserves, jelly and chutney. It is a very welcome addition to the dietary during the summer. The mango is held sacred in India and references to it are interwoven in their folklore writings.

MANGO CHUTNEY.-Mango chutney is a well-known sauce imported from India. The mango is now successfully grown in Florida.

EBENACEOUS FRUITS

Varieties of Ebenaceous Fruits THE PERSIMMON.-The persimmon or date plum is the fruit of the N. O. Ebenacea. The Japanese variety is the most highly prized, reaching a size of from two to three inches in diameter. It is the most esteemed fruit of the Japanese Empire. There are many varieties grown in China, Japan and India. The Japanese ripen persimmons artificially by placing them in casks, from eight to fifteen days, from which the native beer called saki has been emptied. Persimmons are dried like figs and exported in large quantities from China and Japan. The Japanese persimmon is like a yellow plum in appearance. When ripened it has a soft, gelatinous pulpy flesh. The American persimmon, according to Atwater, contains 14.5 per cent sugars. The fruit also contains both malic and tannic acids.

LEGUMINOUS FRUITS

Varieties of Leguminous Fruits THE TAMARIND.-The tamarind is the fruit of the N. O. Leguminosea. It is a pod of a leguminous tree, of from one to six inches long, dark brown color, a thin, brittle exterior when dry, and contains a dark, fleshy pulp which is used for both food and medicine. Tamarinds are preserved by placing them in jars with layers of sugar between them, or by pouring boiling syrup over the ripe fruit. They are laxative and refrigerant; an infusion is grateful to patients suffering from fevers and inflammation. The fruit has a sweetish, sour taste. It is said to contain more sugar than the sweetest fruit and more acid than the sourest. Analysis shows 85 per cent solids, 40 per cent reducing sugar and 15 per cent acids.

ST. JOHN'S BREAD.-St. John's bread, sometimes called locusts or carob beans, comes originally from Syria and the shores of the Mediterranean. The fruit grows on a large tree of the N. O. Leguminoseæ. In America the tree sometimes attains an enormous size, three feet in diameter and from sixty to seventy feet in height. The pods sometimes grow ten or twelve inches in length, having as many seeds. When ripe—after frost has bitten them-the seeds are surrounded by a sweet mucilaginous mass of honey-like substance having a pleasing acrid, piquant taste. The dried pod contains 50 per cent sugar. Its generic name is derived from John Robin, who introduced it into France about the year 1600. It is much prized as a food for man and beasts in the hotter countries. Its cultivation began in historic times. The Greeks knew and appreciated its food value. The pods of the honey locust are eaten raw and sold in confectioner's shops. A delightful beverage, locust beer, is made by breaking up the dried pods, adding dried American persimmons and dried apples, placing the whole in a barrel and pouring boiling water on the mass and allowing it to undergo fermentation. When three or four days have elapsed, a beautiful port wine colored "beer" is produced, possessing an alluring piquant taste with some "kick" in it.

PALMACEOUS FRUITS

Varieties of Palmaceous Fruits-DATES.-Dates grow in abundance in the region between the Euphrates and the Nile. In Babylonian times, in the fifth century B.C., Herodotus mentions "the dates of Babylon," and Egyptian monuments contain drawings of the fruit and of the tree. The fruit is grown extensively in all Oriental countries. The Persian Gulf region is the center of the date-growing industry of the world. There are said to be no less than 20,000,000 date-bearing palms in this territory.

There are many varieties of date trees. It is said that date trees are sometimes prolific for 200 years. The tree is diacious, i.e., the male and female flowers, the pistillate and staminate, like those of the fig tree, grow on different trees and fertilization is brought about by means of pollen-bearing insects and currents of air. In some countries the growers plant one male tree to every thirty female trees. In times of In times of war, the Arabs destroy the male trees in the enemy territory, in order to cause date famine. The fruit is gathered just before it is ripe, dried in the sun or in ovens, and carefully packed. Dates should be washed before eating, as the Arabs who gather the fruit are not a very cleanly race. The fruit forms an important article of food in the country where it is cultivated and is a considerable source of income to growers. Dates are a wholesome and nutritious fruit. When dried without the pits, they contain about 7 per cent protein, 54 per cent sugar, as levulose, dextrose and some sucrose, and 11 per cent of pectose and gum. It is claimed that half a pound of dates and a half a pint of milk will make a sufficient meal for a person of sedentary habits.

DATE PALM WINE.-The date palm is extensively cultivated by the Hindoos for the sap, from which they make palm wine or joggery wine. Each tree is said to yield one hundred and eighty pints of sap, twelve pints of which produce one pint of joggery; four pints of joggery yield one pound of good brown sugar, so that from the annual sap yield about seven pounds of sugar is produced. The palm wine when distilled yields a spirit called tody. The fruit is a source of sugar, honey, spirits and vinegar. The unopened fresh leaf buds are a tender succulent vegetable, which may be prepared and eaten like cabbage.

COCOANUTS.-Cocoanuts are the fruit of the cocoanut palm, grown largely in the East and West Indies, Indo-China, China and Japan. This fruit is a staple food product for the inhabitants in countries where it is grown. Without it the Pacific Islands would be uninhabitable and the natives would die of hunger and thirst. The fleshy part of the fruit is white and tasty, nutritious and wholesome. As the fruit reaches maturity the flesh hardens from the circumference towards the center, and on the inside is the milk which is used like cow's milk. It is a pleasant beverage, milky, sweet and slightly acidulous. For analysis of the component parts of the nut see Volume I, Chapter XIX.

MISCELLANEOUS TREE FRUITS

OLIVES.-Olives are mentioned in the earliest Hebrew writings as one of the trees of the land of Canaan. The Bible records the return of the

dove bringing an olive branch to Noah in the Ark. The olive is believed to have come originally from Asia. It has been naturalized in Spain, Italy, France, Greece, California, Central and South America, where it is an important source of income. The tree is a small gnarled evergreen, of which there are numerous varieties, long leaved and short leaved. The finest oil is produced from the long leaved variety. The edible olive is picked while young and placed in lye 1 to 2 per cent for some hours, which removes the bitter taste; they are then soaked and washed in fresh water several times, pickled in brines of varying but increasing strength, and finally packed in sterilized brine for shipment. Ripe olives are of more value for food purposes; the green olives for pickles and relishes. The olive contains one of the chief principles of food which the average vegetarian diet lacks-fat-for which they are extremely valuable. Ripe olives are of a purplish black tint. They are wholesome, readily digested, slightly laxative and highly nutritious.

POMEGRANATE.-Pomegranate fruit is one of the earliest known in the history of the world. It is indigenous to Persia and is grown throughout tropical countries. Mention is made of it in ancient religious and mythological writings. It has been cultivated from time immemorial. It was known to the Greeks of Homeric times and entered into the ceremonies of the ancient Romans. The cultivated varieties, which are scarcely thorny, have coral red wax-like terminal flowers.

The fruit is as large as an orange, with a leathery-like, yellow-tinted, rosy skin. Each of the many seeds is enclosed in a sweet or sub-acid, separate, reddish, edible pulp, surrounded by a thin membrane. The pulp when macerated, mixed with water and honey or sugar, makes a delicious cooling, acidulous beverage. The South Americans macerate the pulp and by a process of fermentation produce a wine called "Aguardiente," which is quite intoxicating. The rind is also used for tanning morocco leather. The expressed pomegranate juice contains 13.6 per cent sugar and 0.51 per cent of organic acids.

THE ALLIGATOR PEAR. The alligator pear, or avocado pear, is a fruit of the N. O. Lauracea. It is a native of Mexico and is cultivated in the West Indies and tropical America. It is a pear shaped fruit from four to six inches long, of a green or brownish color, weighing from one to two pounds. It is highly prized as a salad fruit. The pulp, which is of a yellow, buttery consistency, is dipped out with a spoon and is eaten with salt, vinegar and other condiments. It may also be prepared as a soup, to which it imparts an agreeable odor. The fruit is rich in fat, 10 to 20 per cent, and has a starch and sugar content of 6.8 per cent.

MAMMEE APPLE.-The Mammee apple is grown extensively in South America, Cuba, West Indies, as well as in the United States, where it is highly esteemed. It is a large fruit of a baccate character, two to nine inches in diameter, weighing from eight to twenty ounces. It has an outer brownish yellow, leathery rind and a thinner internal rind closely covering the flesh. The flesh of the Mammee apple is firm, bright yellow, with a sweet aromatic perfume, an acidulous sweetish juice in abundance, a peculiar piquant taste. It can be eaten raw, but is principally used for preserves and marmalades.

AMPELIDACEOUS OR VINE FRUITS

Varieties of Ampelidaceous Fruits GRAPES.-Grape vines are found growing wild throughout the temperate and parts of the torrid zone of both hemispheres. From these the cultivated varieties of the present day have been propagated. The cultivation of the grape and the making of wine are of the most remote antiquity, as appears from the scripture history of Noah and other Bible characters and from many passages of the most ancient authors, for example, Virgil and Columelia. The grape was probably introduced into the south of France and into Italy by the Phonicians about 600 years B.C.

There are many varieties of grapes indigenous to America, particularly the Scuppernong, the Catawba, the Isabella, the Concord and the Fox grape, which are all described by the historian of Sir Walter Raleigh's voyages to Carolina in 1584.

During Colonial times many attempts were made to grow European varieties of grapes in the United States, but the experiment was not a success, owing to various pests and to certain mildews which did not affect the hardy native vines but which infested the foreign importation. The European grapes have a higher sugar content than the American species and are better adapted for wine making, especially champagnes. They also keep better and make better raisins. The American table grapes, however, are more refreshing and make a better unfermented drink than the imported varieties.

As a fruit, grapes are delicious, nourishing and fattening; in large quantities they are diuretic and of value in the dietetic treatment of constipation and some gastric disorders. The grape cure (see Volume II, Chapter XVI, on "Cures") consists of eating many pounds of grapes daily. The value of grapes is due especially to the large proportion of sugar. In certain wasting diseases care must be exercised not to eat too freely,