Nearly all the vegetable products eaten fresh, have marked antiscorbutic properties. Many are diuretic or laxative on account of salines and most are laxative by reason of the cellulose contained. Some are distinctly medicinal, even when in com-mon use as foods, as garlic, celery, etc., although any marked medicinal virtue is necessarily accompanied by toxic possibilities which should and usually do preclude use as a food. As a matter of convenience, vegetable food stuffs may be classified as iniiu-tritious, as furnishing notable proportions of all organic foods or as limited in value chiefly to one class of organic foods or to some special inorganic material. Such a classification must be understood as being merely approximate. The writer classifies as in-nutritious, all substances containing, on the average, less than 5 per cent, of any organic nutrient. In general, these vegetables and fruits contain no saline or other mineral mattor of special value. The analyses chiefly followed are those of Atwater and Bryant for theU.S. Department of Agriculture as applied to the macroscopieal-ly edible portion of each article. Dr. E. W. Allen, Acting Director, has shown the utmost courtesy in supplying information and references for this compilation and the warmest gratitude both of readers and the writer is due to him.

Innutritious Vegetables And Fruits

Asparagus, cabbage sprouts, cauliflower, celery, cucumbers, beet greens, lettuce, rhubarb, sauer-kraut, spinach, tomatoes, are practically devoid of organic nutrient value. Cabbage, egg-plant, kohl-Tabi, leeks, okra, pumpkins, radishes, contain very nearly 5 per cent, of carbohydrates, exclusive of fiber.

Carbohydrate Vegetables And Fruits, Containing Less Than 5 Per Cent, Of Other Ingredients

Artichokes, 15 - 16 per cent, of carbohydrates; beets, 2 - 15 per cent.; carrots, 6 - 11 per cent.; dandelion greens, 10 per cent.; turnip greens, 6 per cent.; onions, 3 - 14 per cent.; parsnips, 8 - 16 per cent.; potatoes, 13 - 26 per cent.; rutabagas, 5 - 9 per cent.; squash, 3 - 15 per cent.; turnips, 2 - 20 per cent.; sweet potatoes, 16 - 45 per cent.; apples, 8 - 20 per cent.; apricots, 13 per cent.; yellow bananas, 16 - 30 per cent.; blackberries, 7.5 - 16 per cent.; cherries, 11 - 20 per cent.; cranberries, 8 - 9 per cent.; currants, 12 per cent.; figs, 18 per cent.; grapes, 15 per cent.; huckleberries, 16 per cent.; lemons, 7 - 8 per cent.; muskmelons, 7 per cent.; nectarines, 16 per cent.; oranges, 1 - 18 per cent.; pears, 11 per cent.; persimmons, 30 per cent.; pineapples, 9 per cent.; plums, 20 per cent.; pomegranates, 17 per cent.; prunes, 18 per cent.; red raspberries, 10 per cent.; black raspberries, 12 per cent.; strawberries, 4 - 10 per cent.; watermelon, 6 per cent.; whortleberries, 10 per cent.; (Note. - Inquiry of the Department of Agriculture has failed to elicit the distinction between huckleberry and whortle-berry, the executive office reporting no knowledge of the discrimination made by the analysts. Ordinarily, the terms are used in-discriminately and sometimes include the blue-berry.)