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MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 



Dr. Alexander Haig, of Eno^land, has written a little book, 

 "Food and Diet," that all may read with profit. He aims to show 

 the harmful effects of eating foods containing uric acid. He recom- 

 mends a diet of bread, cereals, milk, cheese, nuts, fruits and cer- 

 tain vegetables. 



Of the essential foods carl^o-hydrates are the cheapest because 

 the most abundant ; hence the tendency to eat too much. It is 

 stated that the power to digest vegetable foods indicates a gen- 

 eral well being of bodv conducive to long life. Dr. Cordelia Green, 

 an authority on food values, states that those who eat vegetable 

 foods freely, as grains, edible plants and fruits, have more reserve 

 strength and endurance. 



The foods that sustain the nervous system are eggs, milk, fish, 

 all sea foods, wheat, cats, rye, barley, corn, peas, beans, celery, 

 olives, and all the bean familv, from medium to full growth, are 

 rich foods. It has been demonstrated that it is more economical 

 to human energy to take fats from nature's foods than to manu- 

 facture it in the body from starches and sugars. Hence nuts are 

 of value. Fat is a nerve food. The nervous and those inclined to 

 consumption should eat all the fats they can digest. If such an 

 individual cannot digest fats, they should be aided by medical treat- 

 ment. Olive oil is easily digested and will not fatten. 



The mineral salts are found largely in vegetable substances in 

 a form that is readilv assimilated. For this reason a lack of vege- 

 table foods seems to impoverish the blood. Alineral matter is neces- 

 sary in the formation of bone and aids digestion. Interesting ex- 

 periments are being conducted at an Austrian agricultural experi- 

 ment station to increase the cjuantity of iron in certain vegetables. 

 The first experiment was made with spinach. To the soil in which 

 the seed was planted hydrate of iron was added. The result showed 

 a percentage of iron seven times as great as in ordinary spinach, 

 without injury to the plant. Spinach is known to contain more iron 

 than any ether vegetable, and for that reason it should be eaten 

 freely by those whose blood is deficient in iron. 



Many foods have the reputation of being indigestible that they 

 do not deserve, such as hard boiled eggs, cucumbers, pineapples 

 and nuts. The structure of all these is compact. Without being 

 sufficiently masticated they afford little nourishment and thus un- 

 dergo chemical decomposition. 



President Roosevelt did the people a great service, when in one 

 of his public addresses he commended a book called "The Simple 

 Life," by Charles Wagner. The writer appeals to us to live out our 

 own individuality and cultivate simplicity of thought, speech, needs 



