The New York Herald

Unripe Fruit.

One of the sources of disease in the city with which the authorities may most readily deal is the supply of fresh fruit. It is one of the good results of the late development of trade that this city is supplied with almost unlimited quantities of fruit of every kind in its season. Melon farms, peach farms, berry farms--all these by the thousand direct their product to this city, and the flow of fruit hither through the summer is equal to the current of a moderate-sized river. No fact is more satisfactory than this in its first aspect, for fruit is a good summer diet, and if it comes in great quantity it is necessarily made so cheap that even the poorest can get it. But some attention is still necessary on the part of the authorities in regard to the condition of the fruit offered for sale. Many disorders thought to be inseparable from the summer weather are in fact only inseparable from unripe or rotten fruit and vegetables. Some evil must be taken with the good, of course; and the good done by the use of fruit is great. Disease is averted by this modification of the people's diet, and more maladies are averted that would afflict the people if they could not get fruit than are caused by bad fruit; but we may have the advantage with even a smaller proportion against it. Elsewhere we give an account of the fruit supply, and especially point the attention of the authorities to the large quantity of green peaches sold in the streets. Unscrupulous dealers will put anything on the market, and anything can be sold if put cheaply enough. So that without an inspection by the Health Department there is no remedy for this trouble.