True candies are: figs, dates, raisins and other tropical fruits. The delicious summer fruits are better eaten without sugar. Undoubtedly nature did not mean for us to indulge in sweets during hot days, or she would have provided us more plentifully with them. All the spring fruits are tart: people who wish to improve the taste of berries add sugar to them at the expense of health. Our forefathers, who did not enjoy such luxuries, had better health than our present generation. The sugar-cane in its natural state is a valuable food. It contains gluten and minerals, such as are found in other vegetables, and if eaten in this form it is more wholesome than refined sugar. The gluten and minerals are destroyed by chemical processes which are necessary to produce sugar from the cane and beet. Pure, crystalized sugar cannot sustain life, unless it is eaten in the proper proportion, with foods which contain gluten, minerals and fats. Sugar which contains minerals cannot crystalize; it remains syrup, therefore the latter is more wholesome than sugar. In order to produce beets, which are richer in sugar and poorer in salts, certain methods of manuring are employed. The profit gained by this method is a financial one. The consumer is the loser. If artificial sugar is united with cocoa or other bitter, sour, nutritious substances it will serve as a food; therefore, sugar in the form of a prepared food such as chocolate, gelatine and gruels is wholesome for those who require cooked foods. If the sugar industry were diminished, the canning and stewing of fruits would also be diminished, and we would have fewer tea and coffee drunkards. All this gluttony in stimulating beverages and sweet fruit sauces was not indulged in by the masses a hundred years ago, therefore the constitution of the average individual at that time was much stronger. Many parents are impressed with the idea that their children require a large amount of sweets, in order to make them grow. We cannot force nature without paying the penalty. At maturity, we reap what has been sown for us, or what we have sown for ourselves. SPICES. Spices are a species of aromatic vegetables and fruits used for the seasoning and preservation of foods. Their flavor is pleasant and stimulating to the mucous membrane of the mouth.