THE WAR GARDEN VICTORIOUS 147 



those who deserve well of mankind those who can trans- 

 port two tons of food where only one was transported 

 before. In effect that is what is made possible by the 

 preservation of food through drying, for in drying, foods 

 lose both bulk and weight. 



This reduction in weight of dried vegetables and 

 fruits ranges from five-sixths to eleven-twelfths with 

 even greater reduction in some cases. A California 

 operator furnishes these figures for shrinkage: Pota- 

 toes, about six to one; cabbage, about twenty to one; 

 tomatoes, about twenty to one; spinach, about eighteen 

 to one; turnips, fourteen to one; carrots, about nine to 

 one. Less than three pounds of dried tomatoes, for in- 

 stance, are equivalent to sixty pounds of canned toma- 

 toes. Not only are the products much shrunken, when 

 taken from the drier, but they may be still more com- 

 pressed in packing so that the bulk is further lessened. 

 This reduction in weight also lowers transportation 

 costs. A shipping incident serves to illustrate clearly 

 the economy involved. Fifty pounds of fresh Brussels 

 sprouts were shipped in the winter of 1917-18 by ex- 

 press from California to an eastern point at twelve 

 cents a pound. Adding to this cost of $6.00 the cost of 

 shipping with the vegetables one hundred pounds of 

 ice at twelve cents a pound, there was a total transpor- 

 tation charge of $18.00. The equivalent of these fifty 

 pounds of fresh Brussels sprouts, namely three pounds 

 of dried products, which required no ice, might have 

 been shipped to the same point by parcel post for thirty- 

 five or thirty-six cents. 



