i 



as the nest itself, Toto wants to feed them 

 each a ripe blackberry. We tell him that 

 they much prefer the insects which the 

 mother bird brings. We see her hovering 

 near, and stand back to watch how she 

 does it. Just as soon as they hear her 

 come, up pop the heads and wide-open 

 Ry the mouths ; in goes the bug and away 

 fiies the parent bird in the task that does 

 not stop while daylight lasts. Everywhere 

 the search for food, life's great need ! 



Trudging home toward supper- time 

 as the day begins to grow cooler, we are 

 tired but happy. Fresh berries and cream 

 with bread and butter for the evening 

 meal; early good-nights, and then comes 

 wholesome rest. Next day appetizing 

 odors of the cooking fruit, for jellies, 

 for preserves, or for canned berries to 

 go in next winter's pies. Mother takes 

 us in to show her proud rows of neatly 

 labeled jars. 



OUT in the yard are trays of fruit and 

 vegetables drying. This drying is 

 worth more than most folks realize. It is 

 so easy to do ! An electric fan and some 

 shallow trays make as good a drier as one 

 could wish. Yet the fan is not necessary. 

 The heat of the sun is enough, and is 

 better than artificial heat, which makes 

 the food lose color and flavor and even 

 some of its food value. 



Here are some of the things that our 

 Home-maker has found out : 



Strawberries and asparagus are no 

 good dried ; the strawberries make a pasty 

 mush, and the asparagus goes into tough 

 strings that furnish a good fiber but 

 mighty little food. 



All the small fruits, including rhubarb, 

 can be dried with success. Raspberries, 

 blackberries, loganberries, huckleberries 

 seem to go away to a dry mass of seeds 

 and skins, but they cook back to their 

 original color, and flavor, and volume. 

 Drying is a good method this year 

 because it does not have to depend on a 

 supply of cans. 



■Vegetables should be sliced before 

 drying, and this is true, of course, cf the 

 larger fruits, such as apples or peaches. 

 If there is no root-cellar or root-pit, pota- 

 toes, carrots, and turnips may be sliced 

 and dried. Onions, string beans, lima 



beans, peas, spinach, cauHflower, cabbage, 

 Brussels sprouts and okra dry perfectly. 



Sweet com, white potatoes and sweet 

 potatoes need to be cooked before drying, 

 though the cooking does not have to be 

 thorough. A short plunging into boUing 

 water seems to be enough. If they are 

 not cooked they lose their color and may 

 not keep. 



DRYING is not without its fun, even 

 for the children. They like to see 

 the orderly trays under their mosquito- 

 nettings out in the sun. There is excite- 

 ment in the scurry to get the trays under 

 cover when a sudden summer shower 

 comes. In spite of the mosquito-net, many 

 insects that like sweets come to the dry- 

 ing trays, and Everett has added some 

 rare kinds to his sets of butterflies. 



Once he had a trying result when his 

 joking uncle told him that he could catch 

 them easily if he could put salt on their 

 tails. Everett has a most serious mind 

 and an earnest nature. He got the big 

 salt box out of the kitchen; then, when 

 the butterflies were rather thickly gath- ,, 

 ered over the netting, he let fly with a j 

 broadcast deluge of salt that ought to 

 have caught them all. Mother was riled 

 for a time; but it was her own brother 

 who was to blame, so we told them to 

 fight it out in their own family, and they 

 soon saw the joke, even though it was 

 on them. 



AS I said in the beginning, we have fun 

 - over the food situation. It is best 

 that we should while we can; but in the 

 meantime we must see its serious side. 

 It is very serious for our friends across 

 the water now; it is going to be serious 

 for us. The best of it all is that each one 

 can do his part — man, woman and chUd. 

 In our own house we are eating less, and 

 we are just as well as we were before, or 

 even have better health. The plates that 

 go to the kitchen go there empty. No 

 more crusts and bits of food for the gar- 

 bage can ; no half -inch of milk left in the 

 bottom of the glass. 



"That would feed a Belgian kiddie!" 

 cry all the other children if one of ours 

 leaves a scrap of good food; and the 

 morsel is eaten— or saved, by and for the 

 same child — out of very shame. 



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