The various fluids of the body are alkaline, and the fruits furnish the salts that help to keep them so. A few secretions and excretions are naturally acid. Sometimes the body gets into a too acid state, but that is very rarely due to overeating of fruit. It is generally caused by pathological fermentation of food in the alimentary tract. The salts and acids of fruits are broken up in the stomach and help to form alkaline substances. The water of the fruit is very pure, distilled by nature. The acid fruits are refreshing and helpful to those who have a tendency to be bilious. Fruits are cleansers, both of the alimentary tract and of the blood. Fruits grow most abundantly in warm climates and that is where they should be used most. In temperate climates they should be eaten most freely during warm weather. Young, vigorous people can eat all the fruit they wish at all seasons, within reason. Thin, nervous people, and those who are well advanced in years should do most of their fruit eating in summer. In winter there is a tendency to be chilly after a meal of acid fruit. In summer such meals do not add to the burden of life by making the partaker unduly warm. The apple is perhaps the best all-round fruit of all. It is grown in many lands and climates. It is possible to get apples of various kinds, from those that are very tart to those that are so mild that the acid is hardly perceptible to the taste. Stout people can eat sour apples with benefit. Thin, fidgety ones should use the milder varieties. The juice from apples, sweet cider, freshly expressed, is a very pleasant drink, and may be taken with fruit meals. The avocado is a good salad fruit. It is quite oily. A combination of avocado and lettuce makes a good salad. Thanks to rapid transportation, the banana has become a staple. It is quite commonly believed that bananas are very starchy and rather indigestible. This may be true when they are green, but not when they are ripe. Green bananas are no more fit for food than are green apples. Ripe bananas are neither starchy nor indigestible. When the banana is ripe it contains a trace of starch, all the rest having been changed to sugar. A ripe banana is mellow and sweet, but firm. The skin is either entirely black, or black in spots, but the flesh is unspotted. The best bananas can often be purchased for one-half of the price of those that are not yet fit to eat. Bananas are a rich food. Weight for weight they contain more nourishment than Irish potatoes. A few nuts or a glass of milk and bananas make a good meal. Bananas contain so much sugar that it is not necessary to eat bread or other starches with them. Those with normal taste will not spoil good bananas by adding sugar and cream. When well masticated the flavor is excellent and can not be improved by using dressings.