ash of walnut kernels had the following composition: CaO, 5.6; MgO, 16.6; Na2O, 1.0; K2O, 12.7; MnO2, 0.3; Fe2O3 and Al1⁄2О ̧, 3.2; P2O5, 57.8; SO, 1.3; SiO2, 0.7, and Cl, 0.7 per cent.

GARDEN FRUITS

This class of fruits is raised from seed which is sown annually. The plants are generally vines, and the fruit ripens on the surface earth. All of this class of vegetable fruits are grown for immediate use, with the exception of the pumpkin, which may be kept for months.

Most of the garden fruits come under the order of cucurbitacea, which include the cucumber, vegetable marrow, pumpkin, squash and various other gourds. According to Goff, there are more than fifty varieties of pumpkin, squash and vegetable marrow. The fruits of the cucurbital or gourd family contain very little nutriment of any moment. Atwater has found that the cucumber contains a protein content of only 0.8 per cent, of which but 0.4 per cent was albuminoid; in squash the nitrogenous matter was but 0.6 per cent, including 0.5 per cent protein. The carbohydrates are starch and sugar; the free acid is only 0.2 per cent. These fruits, while of no value as a food product, are useful mainly to break the monotony of the dietary.

Varieties of Garden Fruits-THE CITRON.-The citron, a variety of Citrus vulgaris, a native of tropical countries, is really a small variety of watermelon which has a very thick rind, grows nearly solid and has an insipid taste. The seeds are black and the flesh of the citron is a light cream yellow and not edible raw. It is used for making preserves and candied confections similar to that of the genuine citron (see page 485).

CUCUMBER. Cucumber, the fruit of the Cucumis sativa, is one of a number of the gourd family which is indigenous to southern India and grows luxuriously in most of the warm climates of the world. In fact few garden plants have been known longer to man than the cucumber, if we are to believe De Candolle, who has proven its cultivation for the past four thousand years. This melon fruit came into general use in England about the beginning of the seventeenth century. In Egypt the cucumber is cooked and served in various ways and forms quite an addition to the diet. In the United States and other countries the cucumber is gathered while immature and used for pickling and peeled and sliced for salads. The cucumber contains about 96 per cent water and is hardly worth while from the viewpoint of food value.

THE GHERKIN.-Gherkin is a fruit of the cucumber family used largely for pickling. This fruit is covered with prickers, which sting the fingers when pulling the fruit from the vine. It is a short, thick fruit, while the cucumber is oblong. The gherkin is highly prized for pickles.

EGGPLANT.- Eggplant, the fruit of Solanum melongena, is a native of the East Indies, but is also grown in Europe, America and the West Indies. The fruit is a large, egg-shaped, melon-like fruit, about the size of a cocoanut, sometimes white but more generally of a purple color. It grows on a bush-like vine. The eggplant is eaten raw like a tomato, cut into slices, or it may be broiled or fried.

MELONS.-Melons are the fruit of varieties of Cucumis melo, which have long been cultivated in Eastern countries, probably for more than 2,000 years. According to De Candolle, melon culture dates back to the beginning of the eighth century. A study of the origin of melons indicates that they were found originally in India and Africa. The Indian varieties produce a fruit which is sweet, insipid or slightly acid, its surface striped or all of one color. The African type grows wild in Guinea. The odor is that of any fresh melon.

THE MUSKMELON.-The muskmelon, grown originally in India and Beluchistan before the Christian era, is a yellowish green oval fruit, with a highly flavored sweet pulp. The sub-varieties include: (a) citron muskmelon; (b) cantaloupe muskmelon; (c) nutmeg muskmelon, and (d) pineapple muskmelon, so called from their various physical characters. The casaba or winter muskmelon has a faintly yellow, delicate pulp of sweetish taste, somewhat resembling that of a ripe cucumber.

The Rockyford cantaloupe, originally grown under irrigation at Rockyford, Colorado, is noted for its delicious taste and odor. It is now grown from seed all over the southern states. The Shamman is a fruit similar to the muskmelon and is said to be the finest fruit grown in Egypt. Pomegranate, Dudaim or Queen Anne melon is another variety of muskmelon, a native of Persia. It has a variegated color, green and orange, becoming yellowish when fully ripe. It has an insipid pulp, is inedible, but has a most fragrant vinous musk-like odor.

WATERMELON.—Watermelon, the fruit of the Citrullus vulgaris, a native of tropical Africa, was extensively cultivated by the ancient Egyp tians, whence it spread into Asia. It was found, cultivated by the American Indians, by Raleigh when he discovered Roanoke Island in 1584. The watermelon is a smooth, round, elongated fruit of green color, having a hard green rind which encloses a rose colored pulp of a rich, delicious. flavor, and an abundance of watery juice of an inviting sweetish taste for

which it is highly prized. This fruit comprises a very important part of the food of the natives of Egypt during the hot season. It is much esteemed in India and in America from Chili to Canada. This fruit is cultivated in nearly all tropical and temperate countries and is very popular with all classes of society. It is delicious served icy cold on a hot summer's day. Its qualities are said to be improved by cutting a hole in the rind and adding a bottle of champagne. It is a valuable commercial crop in the southern states and immense quantities are shipped north during the summer months.

THE PUMPKIN. The pumpkin is the fruit of the Cucurbita pepo. According to Goff, there are fifty-five varieties of pumpkin, squash and vegetable marrow. He classifies them into: (a) pumpkins and vegetable marrow; (b) summer and winter squash, and (c) sweet potato pumpkin and cashews. The pumpkin was found growing in the Indians' cornfields when our forefathers came to this country. Although its handsome exterior belied its food and fuel value, nevertheless it has become a popular garden vegetable, and the taste cultivated through necessity at first, has been handed down through generations, until it has become an established favorite for pies and custards.

The pumpkin is usually round, occasionally oblong, weighs from ten to two hundred pounds and is used in a variety of edible dishes. It may be cut up and used in soups, made into pies, or the ripe pumpkin having had the seeds scooped out through an opening made in one end, may be filled with sliced apples, sugar and spices and cooked whole. The pumpkin is highly prized in the New England States for pies and custards. To make the best pies and custards the pumpkin should be cut into long, large slices and baked, then scooped from the rind and sugar and spices added, together with rich milk or cream mixed into a batter.

SQUASH.-Squash, the fruit of the Cucurbita melopepo, sometimes called cymling or summer squash, is thought to be a variety of the common gourd from which the pumpkin also appears to have been derived. Squash is extensively grown in America, the vegetable is flat with prominent angles or ribs at the sides. As a nutrient vegetable the squash amounts to little. It contains only 9 per cent of nutritive material, while the nutritive material of the pumpkin is 5 per cent.

VEGETABLE MARROW.-Vegetable marrow, the fruit of the Cucurbita ovifera, is closely akin to the squash. It is more cultivated in England as a garden vegetable than in the United States. One variety known as custard marrow is a flattened fruit with scalloped edges and is sweeter than the true marrow. The fruit is eaten when quite young. Both squash and

marrow are boiled, seasoned with butter, salt and pepper and used as a vegetable.

Preservation of Fruits by Cold Storage

The preservation of ripe fruits by cold storage is a process somewhat similar to that for the preservation of meats, fish, game, eggs and butter, etc. It should not be forgotten that the life processes go on, although slowly, in fruit, even at a low temperature. The fungi and bacteria are always ready to produce decay and their action is only retarded by a low temperature. The keeping qualities of ripe fruits in cold storage depend upon their ripeness, their soundness and their freedom from bruises. The. modern cold storage warehouse has its ice plant so arranged that cold brine can be circulated in pipes through the rooms in which the fruit is stored. The temperature may thus be kept at 32° F. or even below, and can be positively controlled. For some varieties of apples a lower temperature is required than for others. It has been learned from experience that there is a special temperature most satisfactory for keeping each variety of fruits. Fruits as well as other produce kept in cold storage for a long time deteriorate or "go down" very quickly when removed from the warehouse. This is not the case with fruits which have been stored in cellars, in caves or in "hills" at the temperature of the outside air. Fruit stored in this manner does not deteriorate, when removed to rooms of ordinary temperature, nearly so rapidly as that which has been in cold storage.

REFERENCES

In the preparation of this section, the author has freely consulted and drawn largely from the following published works: Tibbles' "Foods, Their Origin, Manufacture and Composition"; Bailey's "Principles of Fruit Growing"; "Source, Chemistry and Origin of Food Products."

1. BAILEY. Principles of Fruit Growing.

2.

LEACH. Analysis of Fruits, 3rd ed., p. 566.

3. SCHIMMEL. Report, October, 1902.

4.

TIBBLES. Origin and Manufacture of Foods.

5.

Ibid.

6. WILEY, H. W. Foods and Their Adulteration.

7. JAFFA. Nuts and Their Uses as Food, U. S. Dept. Agric., Farmers' Bull. 332.

8. MCCLENAHAN. Development of Fat in the Black Walnut, J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 1913, vol. xxxv, pp. 485-493.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Fruits

BAILEY. Biochemical and Bacteriological Studies on the Banana, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1912, vol. xxxiv, pp. 1706-1730.

BEYTHIEN. Standard for Marmalades, Fruit Juices, and Other Fruit Preserves, Report of Conference of German Food Chemists and Representatives of Manufacturers, Ztschr. f. Untersuch. d. Nahrungs. u. Genussmittel, 1909, vol. xviii, pp. 54-78.

BIOLETTI. Olive Cultivation, Oil-Making, Pickling, Calif. Agric. Exper. Sta., Report for the years 1898-1901, part ii, pp. 285-304, 1902.

BROWNE. A Chemical Study of the Apple and Its Products, Penn. Dept. Agric., Bull. 58; and J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 1901, vol. xxiii, pp. 869-884.

CHASE, TOLMAN and MUNSON. Chemical Composition of Some Tropical Fruits and Their Products, U. S. Dept. Agric., Bur. of Chem., 1904, Bull. 87.

FUNK. The Nitrogenous Constituents of Lime Juice, Biochem. J., 1913, vol. vii, pp. 81-86.

GORE. Composition of the Scuppernong, Concord and Catawba Grape Juices, J. Indust. & Engin. Chem., 1909, vol. i, pp. 436-441. JAFFE. Nutrition Investigations Among Fruitarians, U. S. Dept. Agric., Office of Exper. Sta., 1901, Bull. 107.

KEARNEY. Date Varieties and Date Culture in Tunis, U. S. Dept. Agric., Bur. of Plant Industry, 1906, Bull. 92.

LANGWORTHY. Raisins, Figs and Other Dried Fruits and Their Use, U. S. Dept. Agric., Yearbook for 1912, pp. 505-522; re printed at Yearbook Separate, 1913, p. 610.

Use of Fruit as Food, U. S. Dept. Agric., 1907, Farm. Bull. 293.

MUNSON, TOLMAN and HOWARD. Fruits and Fruit Products; Chemical and Microscopical Examination, U. S. Dept. Agric., Bur. Chem., 1905, Bull. 66.

VAN SLYKE. Home-made Cider Vinegar, N. Y. Agric. Exper. Sta., 1905, Bull. 258.