CHAPTER XVIII 

 THE FUTURE OF DEHYDRATION 



TALL OAKS FROM LITTLE ACORNS GROW 



" T~"V EHYDRATION has come to stay in this coun- 

 J try and, while it may still be regarded as in the 

 experimental stage, those who are mostfamiliar 

 with the problems of food production and conservation 

 are firm in the opinion that we are seeing only the 

 beginning of what is sure to expand into an enormous 

 and most important industry." This is the statement 

 of an international food expert, a man who probably 

 knows more on the subject of dried foods than any other 

 authority in the United States. It was made in a re- 

 cent letter to the National War Garden Commission, 

 by Lou D. Sweet, president of the Potato Association 

 of America, popularly known as the "Potato King." 

 Mr. Sweet was selected by Mr. Hoover as head of the 

 dehydration section of the United States Food Admin- 

 istration, and has more recently, in association with 

 Major S. C. Prescott, U. S. A., been enlisted in the 

 government development of dehydration. 



While the drying of food, like some of the other lost 

 arts, is almost as old as the human race itself, still its 

 value and its importance have been brought to the fore 

 by the European war. Necessity has meant the devel- 

 opment of an industry which was well-nigh extinct. 

 War gardening and the home production of food have 



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