The Farm Table. 1663 



different when vegetables form the only source of food supply. Because 

 of the excess of carbohydrates and the presence of indigestible matter 

 in the form of cellulose, a great bulk of food must be taken in order to 

 get the necessary proteid, 



5. The j:ost of food is another most important element in its selec- 

 tion. After we have decided what amount of money may be expended 

 in food directly or indirectly, it is not always easy to know whether a cer- 

 tain food is economical or not. We must consider not only the first cost 

 of the food, but the amount of waste, the time and labor spent in the 

 preparation of the food, and the cost of the fuel used in cooking. For 

 example, two brands of salmon might be offered. The difference in price 

 might be simply that the more expensive was in larger, more attractive 

 pieces. In this case the cheaper would serve many purposes exactly as 

 well as the more expensive. If, on the other hand, the cheaper brand 

 contained a large proportion of skin and bones it might be cheaper in 

 the end to buy the more expensive. Again, beans baking in the oven, or a 

 cheap meat stewing in the oven, while ironing is going on, would when 

 coal or wood is the fuel used add practically nothing to the cost of the 

 material; while if a fire must be maintained for the purpose, or if gas is 

 the fuel as in many places, the additional cost of fuel might make a 

 cheap food more expensive than the one of higher original cost. 



Time and labor are too frequently not considered, because the time 

 of the housekeeper seldom has a definite money-value, but it should be 

 most carefully taken into account. 



6. The purity of the food must be considered in selecting it. While 

 some adulterated foods are injurious to health, many more are a drain 

 upon the purse, since they mean paying a high price for a cheap article. 

 Cream of tartar for instance is expensive. If it, or the baking powder 

 made from it, is adulterated with starch, a very cheap substance, the con- 

 sumer is being cheated. In the case of the baking powder a certain 

 amount of starch is allowable as it is needed to keep the ingredients dry, 

 but more than this is often found, and a baking powder containing a 

 large per cent of starch is expensive, even if sold at a low price, since 

 so much is required to do the work. A simple test is the boiling in water 

 for a minute of a teaspoonful of a suspected brand, and the comparison 

 of the thickness of the resulting liquid with that of an equal amount of 

 a reliable brand mixed with an equal amount of water and boiled for a 

 minute. 



Often the lack of solubility in a substance tells the story of its adul- 

 teration. Sugar is seldom adulterated now, but if a sample is suspected, 

 as powdered sugar often is, its solubility in water will determine its 

 purity, at least so far as the traditional adulterants of starch, clay, etc., 

 are concerned. 



