39 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



cheapest aliments, since production and growth cost absolutely no- 

 thing, only the expenses of catching and of a short transport being 

 incurred. 



Having enunciated some general principles which it is important 

 should first be established, I shall offer briefly an illustration or two 

 of the manner in which they may be applied. This brings us to the 

 second division of the subject, viz., the practical treatment of certain 

 aliments in order to render them suitable for food. Dealing first with 

 that of the agricultural laborer, our object is to economize his small 

 pittance, to give him, if possible, a rather more nutritive, wholesome, 

 and agreeable dish he can have but one that his means have hither- 

 to furnished. But here there is little scope for change ; already said 

 to live chiefly on bread and cheese, with occasionally bacon, two indi- 

 cations only for improvement can be followed, viz., augmentation of 

 nitrogenous matter to meet the wear and tear of the body in daily 

 hard labor, and of fatty matter to furnish heat and force. A fair pro- 

 portion of meat, one of the best means of fulfilling them, is not within 

 his reach. First, his daily bread ought to contain all the constituents 

 of the wheat, instead of being made of flour from which most of the 

 mineral elements have been removed. But beans and peas are richer 

 in nitrogen than wheat, and equal it in starch, mineral matters, and 

 fat, the last being in very small quantity, while maize has three times 

 their proportion of fat. Hence all of these would be useful additions 

 to his dietary, being cheaper than wheat in the market, although, the 

 retail demand being at present small, they may not be so in the small 

 shops. As an illustration of the value of legumes combined with fat, 

 it may be remembered how well the Erbswurst supported the work 

 of the German armies during the winter of 1870-'71, an instructive 

 lesson for us in England at the present moment. It consists of a sim- 

 ple pea-soup mixed with a certain proportion of bacon or lard, and 

 dried so as to be portable, constituting in very small compass a per- 

 fect food, especially suitable for supporting muscular expenditure and 

 exposure to cold. Better than any flesh, certainly any which could 

 be transported with ease, the cost was not more than half that of 

 ordinary meat. It was better also, because the form of the food is 

 one in which it is readily accessible and easily digested ; it was rel- 

 ished cold, or could be converted in a few minutes into good soup 

 with boiling water. But for our laborer probably the best of the 

 legumes is the haricot bean, red or white, the dried mature bean of 

 the plant whose pods we eat in the early green state as "French 

 beans." For this purpose they may be treated thus : Soak, say, a 

 quart of the dried haricots in cold water for about twelve hours, after 

 Avhich place them in a saucepan, with two quarts of cold water and 

 a little salt, on the fire ; when boiling remove to the corner and sim- 

 mer slowly until the beans are tender ; the time required being about 

 two to three hours. This quantity will fill a large dish, and may be 



