150 Kansas Academy of Science. 



as a food product and for the manufacture of soap. The 

 amount of cocoanut products imported for the year ending 

 June 30, 1914, was 55,734,709 pounds. 



In addition to these nuts we imported during the same year 

 $24,000,000 worth of vegetable oils. These are used both for 

 food and for manufacturing purposes. They include such oils 

 as cocoa butter, cocoanut oil, cottonseed oil, nut oils, palm oil, 

 palm-kernel oil, rapeseed oil, and soy-bean oil. Here again the 

 amount imported during the last two years has been much 

 affected by the difficulty of securing vessels for transportation 

 on account of the disarrangement of commercial conditions by 

 the war. 



Most of our spices, including especially cinnamon (cassia) , 

 ginger, pepper and cloves, come from the East Indies, though 

 some other tropical countries contribute small quantities. The 

 total amounted to 56,574,499 pounds in 1914. 



Another product which is not grown in this country, and 

 for which we must rely upon semitropical countries, especially 

 Mexico and Central America, is the vanilla bean. We imported 

 these to the value of $2,677,675. 



There is no reason why mushrooms could not be raised here 

 if we had people who were sufficiently expert in handling them. 

 It is well known that they require certain conditions of mois- 

 ture, and above all an equable temperature. The absence of 

 light is not a matter of much importance, although in order to 

 secure an even temperature they are frequently raised in 

 cellars. Our mushrooms come mostly from France and Central 

 Europe and amount to $1,306,818 in a single year. 



In order to satisfy the taste of our people for cheese of a 

 special flavor it has been found profitable to import cheese to 

 the amount of 63,784,313 pounds, valued at over $11,000,000. 

 Many of these cheeses are made under peculiar conditions of 

 temperature and climate. Some are made from goats' milk ; 

 some are ripened for a long time in caves, where the conditions 

 are ideal for producing a particular flavor; so that altogether it 

 has been found difficult to exactly imitate the foreign cheese in 

 this country. 



It is true that we raise an abundance of fruits in this country, 

 but a great variety is acceptable to the people and is indeed an 

 advantage in the dietary. Some of these foreign fruits im- 

 ported are extremely valuable as foods, and they should be so 



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