Many of the tropical fruits, notably the banana and the pineapple, as they arrive in the northern markets of the United States and Canada, are not only unwholesome but, positively, most indigestible in character. As they exist in their native condition, both of these fruits are extremely luscious and digestible, but for export shipment they are picked green and immature. On this account there is little comparison between these fruits as ripened artificially and naturally. Anyone who has ever hand-picked and eaten the pineapple or banana appreciates these marked differences, so great that one would hardly recognize them as the same fruits.

The banana, containing 20 to 25% of fruit-sugar, proteids, and other extractive material, is one of the most nourishing of all the fresh fruits, almost equaling the dried fruits, such as the date, fig, prune and the raisin. A pound of bananas contain almost as much nutriment as a pound of lean meat. When well and properly ripe the banana may be eaten by the most delicate invalid. Banana flour, which is now a regular article of sale, is a highly nutritious food, and a gruel or soup made from it is tolerated, when the ordinary farinaceous or starchy preparations would be rejected, by a weak stomach. Bananas, in their native state, are one thing; but as we frequently find them, they are half-green, over-ripe or otherwise unfit to eat. For this reason, and in order to overcome many of the objections attendant upon their use, bananas are best baked, the same as apples.

The pineapple should be ripe before being used for food. A really ripe pineapple is seldom seen outside of the sections where it grows. When a pineapple is ripe the "eyes" can be removed by pinching them between the fingers. The juice - strictly the juice - of the pineapple is one of the choicest of fruit juices, possessing decided peptogenic or digestive properties. The fibrous or woody portion of the pineapple is the most indigestible substance with which I am familiar. For obvious reasons our native fruits, the peach, pear, grape, sweet apple, etc., are far superior to the tropical fruits, as we find them.

The apple should always be eaten ripe and peeled, and may be either raw, steamed, or baked. If eaten raw, apples must be thoroughly masticated to a pulp, otherwise undigested pieces will be regurgitated, and there will be fermentation and other disagreeable conditions develop in the stomach. With thorough mastication and insalivation of apples to a semi-fluid consistence or pulp, they will be found to agree with individuals in whom, heretofore, stomach disturbances have resulted, from their use.

Ripe sweet apples are the most easily and quickly digested raw food substance which exists. Sour apples especially, require very thorough mastication. In some individuals suffering with chronic stomach trouble, sour apples may be replaced to advantage by other fruits, or they may be toned down by an admixture of sweet apples or even with the raisin. Baked sweet apples are usually well tolerated by delicate stomachs. Apples require to be peeled and cored.

The unfermented juice of the apple makes a valuable drink and one highly recommended. . In its use it should be well insalivated, especially by those who are inclined to have acidity of the stomach. The juice is cooling and acts as a slight laxative.

Apples when cooked without much sugar and of good quality are easy of digestion, cooling, and slightly laxative.

The date is a highly nutritious fruit, and forms an important food for the Arabs; the best dates, only, should be used, and not those made sugary with molasses or glucose.

Figs both in the green and dry state contain much sugar, and also a rather large proportion of nitrogenous matter, so that they are more nutritious than most fruits: in large quantities they are apt to prove aperient.

The grape is a very important fruit, on account of its richness in sugar, both in the fresh and dried form (raisins). It is very digestible when fully ripe, and most acceptable to invalids. The seeds in some of these fruits are very hard, and where one has sensitive teeth or gums, there is an inclination to bolt or half masticate the fruit. This of itself provokes intestinal trouble.

Peaches and nectarines are particularly delicate flavoured, and they are well suited to the gouty and diabetic.

Oranges, the juice only to be used, are especially valuable for invalids; when ripe and well selected they are pleasant and refreshing, and well adapted for allaying thirst in feverish conditions. The skin and indigestible white fibre should always be discarded.

Plums should be avoided in the unripe and overripe states, and they are more apt than other fruits to prove indigestible and irritating and to cause diarrhoea. Dried plums (prunes) are often judiciously added to the daily dietary to remedy habitual constipation.

The strawberry is very wholesome when taken in moderation. It is considered to be a useful food for the gouty on account of its richness in alkaline salts.

Fruit should be eaten at all meals, a daily part of every individual's diet. Some fruits, notably raspberries, strawberries and blackberries, have a reputation for disagreeing with some individuals. This is more likely to be a result of imperfect mastication or of other conditions, attention to which will show the idea is not well founded. Fruits should always be eaten in their natural condition, that is, without the addition of cane sugar, or certainly with the minutest quantity it is possible to dispense with.

Owing to their extreme lusciousness, the tendency in the use of fruits is to swallow them rather hurriedly. The flavor and aroma are entirely lost by so doing. For this reason, if you would appreciate and enjoy fruits to their fullest value, see to it that they are thoroughly masticated and insalivated before swallowing.

The juice, not the fruit, of sweet grapes, sweet apples and other sweet fruits may be used freely for infants, replacing, to advantage in many instances, milk, beef tea, etc.

Fruits taken in excess, or when unripe, or overripe, are apt to set up gastro-intestinal irritation, often of a severe form.

Nuts, in combination with fruits, constitute a perfect dietary, the fat of the nuts and the sugar of the fruits supplying all the need for energy and heat-producing; substances.