A SALAD OF CHINESE PETSAI 



In brilliancy and crispncss and in keeping qualities the petsai is undoubtedly superior to the 

 lettuce and it rivals lettuce in palatability. Furthermore, a seed crop requires several 

 months of really warm weather to mature in, whereas a leafy vegetable can produce a crop 

 of leaves in a few weeks of early spring and in the cool days of late fall. This economy is un- 

 derstood by the Chinese. (Fig. 1.) 



wliicli (hiring these times otight to ap- 

 peal to every jiatriotic citizen. 



To insist that we shall be fed on the 

 more expensive of the fo<^)(ls and to re- 

 fuse to eat the easier produced ones 

 is an attitude of mind at variance with 

 the spirit of the day. 



Where can we get the mo.st food for 

 the money and the best of its kind and 

 of the kinds which will keep employed 

 every acre of land and every unem- 

 ployed farmer and his ec|ui])ment, are 

 questions which the consumer should 

 ask himself. 



Of course there is no question but 

 that this country could, in the course 

 of years, shift its agriculture to such a 

 degree that it would be living and 

 working on a small fraction of the cost 

 which it now re{|uires to feed it. 

 Imagine the saving which a return to 

 a millet diet, such as is still in use bv 

 the Chinese in Manchuria, would bring 

 about. How long it would take to 

 adaj)t our digestive tracts to such a 



292 



diet it is hard to say, but no dotibt it 

 could be done. 



There are certain kinds of economies 

 which Americans in their handling of 

 the food question can bring about, but 

 there are others in which it is hard 

 to imagine any great and immediate 

 changes. In the growing of vegetables 

 and tlie getting them into the hands 

 of the consumers a degree of hand labor 

 is absolutely neces.sary. If labor re- 

 mains at $3 a day this item in the 

 cost of ])ro(luction will not be decreased, 

 and it is hard to see how the cost of 

 lettuce to the consumer can be brought 

 down so long as these prices for hand 

 ]alx>r continue. 



If, for the same amoimt of hand 

 labor, double the amotuit of just as good 

 a vegetable as lettuce can be ])roduced, 

 there is a direct saving which deserves 

 to be seriously considered. The only 

 thing which stands in the way is the 

 fashion for lettuce — the fact that every- 



