Fairchild: The Chinese Petsai as a Salad Vegetable 293 



body likes lettuce and few know 

 petsai. The Germans brought them- 

 selves to eat over hve hundred substi- 

 tutes for the things which tliey were 

 fond of before the war, and Americans 

 must learn that they cannot continue to 

 do their utmost to help the Allies and 

 eat just the same things which they 

 ate before. Now is the time to take 

 stock of the cost of production and see 

 whether there are not cheaper things to 

 grow than some which our fondness for 

 certain flavors has induced the farmer 

 to produce. 



The production of roast pig has al- 

 ready been brought under a scrutiny, 

 and the cost of that roast pig is now well 

 understood. The comparative costs of 

 producing roast beef and mutton are 

 facts of which the public is getting 

 every day a clearer appreciation. But 

 the cost of fruits and vegetables and 

 their comparative food value is one 

 which as yet has scarcely touched our 

 consciences. 



The largest truck grower in New 

 Jersey and one of the most successful 

 in America has grown the petsai for 

 several years and declares that the cost 

 of growing and marketing it is about 

 half the cost of growing and marketing 

 lettuce, but more than the cost of pro- 

 ducing field cabbage. If he could get 

 for petsai anything approaching what 

 he can for the lettuce he would put in 

 a large area of it next year and make a 

 lot of money. What he would do the 

 other truck growers would be willing 

 to do, and there would need be no 

 dearth of this delicious vegetable. 



If he could get for it even consider- 

 ably less than the prevailing price for 

 lettuce he would make money and the 

 consumer would save money by eating 

 a salad which is, after all, quite as de- 

 licious as lettuce and just as nutritious. 

 What stands in the way of this saving? 

 The taste for lettuce, nothing more. 



In China, where a few years ago a 

 ^ farm laborer received an equivalent of 

 only $21 a year, the equivalent at that 

 time of about two weeks' work of our 

 farm labor, this particular vegetable is 

 grown everywhere, and it can hardly 

 be doubted that it is grown as much as 



a matter of economy as for any other 

 reason. If the Chinese feel they must 

 grow this cheaply produced vegetable 

 to save labor that costs only $21 a year, 

 how can we refuse to grow it for the 

 same reasons under the stress of the 

 war's demands — just because we are 

 unaccustomed to it and do not think it 

 will taste as good as the lettuce with 

 which we are familiar. 



It might be claimed that we could 

 make a salad out of the ordinary cab- 

 bage, which would be good enough, and 

 that since this is still easier grown than 

 the Chinese cabbage we would be sav- 

 ing still more by the economy.. I doubt 

 if this is practicable at the present time, 

 for there are so many people who do 

 not like cabbage — cannot eat it, in fact, 

 without discomfort — that the number 

 of people who would give up lettuce 

 and eat cabbage would be nothing like 

 half the number who would take up 

 this new salad which has no cabbage 

 flavor when properly prepared. The 

 saving therefore would be greater in 

 the substitution of this Chinese petsai 

 than it would be in any attempt to sub- 

 stitute ordinary cabbage for lettuce. 



How can this introduction be brought 

 about? By starting a craze for the 

 Chinese petsai. If the demand is created 

 the growers will produce the vegetable. 

 What they are afraid of is its over- 

 production and what the Government 

 can do is to stimulate the consumption. 

 If the latter is stimulated the production 

 will take care of itself. This stimula- 

 tion of consumption will benefit those 

 who grow the petsai, it is true, but as 

 anyone can grow it, there will be no 

 unjust discrimination. 



There is this further advantage in 

 the introduction of a new vegetable as 

 opposed to the substitution of an old 

 one. Every vegetable has its optimum 

 climatic and soil conditions ; these are 

 not likely to be the same for the Chinese 

 petsai as they are for the other vege- 

 tables, and in the course of time we 

 will find there are certain areas which 

 because of their peculiar fitness to grow 

 the petsai have become famous for the 

 excellence of the heads produced. This 

 is the case in China where for forty 



