Page 6 



BETTER FRUIT 



August 



high temperature cause them to rot); 

 it also saves the weight and cost of 

 containers to a great extent. The cost 

 of a suitable paper container is very 

 slight — only a few cents for a pound 

 of dehydrated material, as against 

 fifty cents for tin for the bulkier 

 fresh material. With the present short- 

 age of glass and tin in view, this is a 

 point to be considered. Since weight is 

 very much decreased, dehydration saves 

 freight; one hundred pounds of fresh 

 fruit may be reduced to an average of 

 ten pounds by complete drying. Usu- 

 ally a shrinkage of about five-sixths 

 may be assumed; this means a consider- 

 able saving in space when shipping and 

 storing. The container is a waxed card- 

 board carton. As another advantage, 

 dehydration saves car space, and so 

 lessens railroad congestion. A ship- 

 ment of two hundred tons of dehy- 

 drated potatoes, for example, would be 

 equivalent to a cargo of one thousand 

 tons of the fresh product. 



The machine that accomplishes the 

 process of dehydration can take care of 

 half a ton of fresh material every 

 twenty-four hours. It occupies a space 

 of ten square feet and requires a room 

 not smaller than twenty feet square for 

 its efficient operation. Another room 

 for the workers who prepare the food 

 is also necessary. The fruit (or vege- 

 tables), pared and sliced, is put in a 

 shelved compartment on wire trays and 

 becomes thoroughly dehydrated in 

 from one and one-half to three hours, 

 according to the nature of the product. 

 The free circulation of moist air (and 

 this is really more important than 

 heat) depends upon a fan blower at the 

 back of the machine. The temperature 

 is kept around one hundred and forty 

 degrees Fahrenheit most of the time; 

 this, being the pasteurization point, 

 insures the destruction of the micro- 

 organisms present. All of the air used 

 is filtered; as it takes up moisture, it 

 is continually replaced by fresh air, 

 thus utilizing the moisture evaporated 

 from the fruit to humidify the air. 

 Dehydrated foods, which are com- 

 pletely dried and rarely contain over 

 three per cent, moisture, will readily 

 absorb moisture from the air if left 

 uncovered. It is therefore important 

 that they be speedily packed in air- 

 tight containers. Stored in this man- 

 ner, they keep indefinitely. To recon- 

 stitute a dehydrated vegetable or fruit, 

 it is merely necessary to place it in 

 water, — cool, tepid, or boiling, depend- 

 ing on the material — and in from 

 twenty minutes to four hours it is re- 

 stored with all of its original appear- 

 ance and flavor. The cellular structure 

 has not been in the least impaired 

 by the process. Properly dehydrated 

 fruits and vegetables are really entitled 

 to be placed in a class above the 

 "evaporated" product, which is of 

 greater moisture content and frequently 

 possesses properties noticeably differ- 

 ent from and inferior to those of the 

 natural article. 



Dehydration is playing an important 

 role in conservation of foods for the 

 City of New York — for the waste in the 

 food depots has hitherto amounted to 

 the startling average of more than one 



million tons ;i month. As chairman of 

 the Food Committee of the Mayor's 

 Committee of Women on National De- 

 fense, Mrs. Harriman's plans for an 

 educational kitchen had the hearty 

 approval of both Mr. Hoover and Mr. 

 Williams. The city gave over the City 

 College at Lexington Avenue and 

 Twenty-thii-d Street for the use of her 

 committee, and through the co-opera- 

 tion of the Board of Health and the city 

 officials, the food waste was made 

 available for dehydration. The do- 

 nated building was opened in May as 

 an educational kitchen for the public, 

 where expert demonstrators show the 

 use of the various kinds of foods and 

 substitutes. A regularly rotating weekly 

 program provides for different demon- 

 strations on different days. Monday is 

 devoted to wheat substitutes, Tuesday 

 to dry and wet milk and children's diet, 

 Wednesday to the dehydration of vege- 

 tables and fruits and cooking of the 

 same, Thursday to wheat substitutes, 

 Friday to the dehydration of fruits and 

 vegetables and canning of the same, 

 and Saturday to ice cream, war cakes, 

 and simple desserts. The dried foods 

 are sold for home use at cost prices, 

 and war food bulletins are on sale at 

 five cents a piece. 



As for the supply from the food 

 depots, heretofore discarded, it is so 

 handled that there is very little waste. 

 About twenty-five per cent of it is 

 actually good. The rest, which is par- 

 tially usable may be dehydrated to pro- 

 vide fodder for cattle and stock, as is 

 done in Germany. 



Just as the Civil War led to the per- 

 fecting of condensed milk, so the 

 present world war seems to be the im- 

 petus to this valuable process of de- 

 hydration. It is, indeed, on account of 

 the war that the desirable advantages 

 of dehydrated fruits and vegetables 

 may be more clearly viewed. Just now, 

 when every bit of shipping space must 

 be utilized to the greatest extent, when 

 weight and expense and liability to 

 deterioration are each problems to be 

 gravely considered, dehydration comes 

 with the appearance of a godsend. It 

 means that each car and ship will be 

 able to transport from ten to fifteen 

 times as much as they do now, and 

 neither the heat of summer nor the cold 

 of winter will have the slightest in- 

 jurious effect. A little investigation 

 shows the problem of increased pro- 

 duction to be rather a serious one and 

 points out the urgent need of conserva- 

 tion. For some time the rural and 

 urban districts have been tending to 

 equalize in population, and in two years 

 more the city numbers actually promise 

 to be slightly larger than the rural. 

 These points are clearly shown at the 

 Grand Central laboratory exhibit by 

 means of a chart. Other charts for the 

 enlightenment of the visitor show the 

 great depletion of the foreign grain 

 supply, which must be met by Amer- 

 ica if it is to be met at all, and the 

 large percentage of exports without a 

 compensating amount of imports. 



For army purposes, dehydrated foods 

 are ideally adapted. The fact that they 

 keep perfectly is, in addition to their 

 other advantages, one of the best rec- 



ommendations, as it is closely related 

 to the hygienic welfare of the camp. 

 With refrigeration plants facing a lack 

 of ammonia, cold storage is hardly to 

 be depended upon. The ease with 

 which dehydrated foods may be pre- 

 pared also makes them a convenience. 

 It is interesting to know that one 

 hundred pounds of dehydrated soup 

 mixture (which is just as savory as that 

 freshly made) will feed three thousand 

 hungry soldiers. Our enemy knows 

 the value of dehydrated foods in war 

 times, and, if we are sensible, we shall 

 profit by his experience in this matter. 

 Directly after the start of the war, Ger- 

 many made haste to add to four hun- 

 dred and eighty dehydrating plants 

 then in operation, two hundred and 

 forty-six more, and at present it has 

 more than two thousand. Dehydrated 

 foods are keeping alive both army and 

 civilian population, and even the Ger- 

 man cattle. The English and French 

 armies, too, use millions of pounds of 

 dehydrated fruit and vegetables. 



The dehydrator that has been de- 

 scribed is not intended to meet the 

 needs of the average family in a small 

 home. It is rather for the large farm, 

 for the community kitchen, for what- 

 ever enterprise can handle big quanti- 

 ties. It has been very successfully in- 

 stalled on country estates; and, for 

 those who prefer it, there is a smaller 

 model that is just half the size of the 

 one described. The cost of installation 

 amounts to about $1500; this includes 

 the auxiliary preparatory machinery, 

 such as cutters and peelers. If oper- 

 ated to full capacity, the machine will 

 dehydrate one hundred and fifty thou- 

 sand pounds of material a year. There 

 should be two workers. Inclusive of 

 wages, the small dehydrating plant may 

 be run at an average cost of a cent for 

 a pound of fresh material; exclusive of 

 wages, the cost of operation will be 

 only five-tenths of a cent a pound. 

 Such efficient conservation of food — 

 and on food depends our strength and 

 that of our Allies — presents a truly 

 practical and patriotic opportunity. 



If Franklin Owned a Tractor 

 Ben Franklin said: "Plow deep while 

 sluggards sleep and you'll have corn to 

 sell and keep." If Franklin had seen a 

 tractor plow, he'd have said, "Don't 

 wait; go buy one now." — California 

 Cultivator. 



Your duty to your state and country 

 now is to use your tractor and engine 

 disk plow for seeding as much land as 

 you possibly can for wheat. — Southern 

 liuralist. 



"At present there are far from enough 

 competent tractor operators to meet 

 the rapidly-growing needs," says Power 

 Farming, "and our agricultural colleges, 

 commercial schools and tractor manu- 

 facturers should employ every means 

 at their disposal to train men and boys 

 to handle tractors." The manufacture 

 of tractors and the training of operators 

 are of equal importance in increasing 

 production. 



You can at least be in the second line 

 of defense — be a war saver. 



