Root vegetables
The root vegetables given in the order of my preference are: Carrots, parsnips, turnips and beets. Carrots are exceedingly nutritious and palatable in an uncooked state, eaten with nuts.
Tomatoes may be considered upon the border line between vegetables and fruits. They are exceedingly useful in cases of intestinal congestion and torpidity of the liver.
The melon
The watermelon is very wholesome. The water is rich in sugar, while the pulp is composed of a soft fiber, which is a mild stimulant to the digestive and the excretory organs. Muskmelons and cantaloups are rich in natural sugar. They are non-acid, hence in harmony with nearly every known article of food. Considering their chemical neutrality and food value, they are about the best articles of diet in the watery or juicy class.
The pumpkin and the squash, which are closely related to the melon, are of the genus cucurbita, and are divided into three species:
1 Pepo or pumpkin
2 Maxima or winter squash
3 Moschata, the pear-shaped squash
With a slight variation of the water content, all of these varieties contain much the same elements of nutrition. However, the pumpkin is most important to the student of dietetics—(1) because of its food value, and (2) because of its prolific and universal growth.