466 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Bowers and George T. Renk, of New York, who made 

 computations. The water in food products adds ioo to 

 900 per cent extra weight and leads in cold weather to 

 freezing. In New York City last winter thousands of 

 dollars were lost through the freezing of fruits and vege- 

 tables. For this reason hotels and other buyers of food in 

 large quantities heartily endorse the new method. 



Community canneries and dehydrating plants are the 

 up-to-date American solution of the food problem. "In 

 union there is strength" has been clearly demonstrated in 

 the united effort 

 to rout the foe, 

 Food Shortage. 

 Organization is the 

 watchword of the 

 day and is just as 

 valuable in solv- 

 ing the food prob- 

 lem as in any other 

 difficulty. 

 Massachusetts has 

 made an enviable 

 record in com- 

 munity canning 

 and drying. More 

 than 80,000 quarts 

 of fruits and vege- 

 tables were can- 

 ned in community 

 kitchens last year 

 throughout the 

 State. In addition 

 to the canning 

 several hundred 

 bushels of pro- 

 ducts were dried. 

 T h i r t y-fi v e or 

 more communities 

 were organized to 

 do work along 

 lines of canning 

 and drying. All 

 were very success- 

 ful in that they 

 increased quite 

 largely the preser- 

 vation of food 

 materials. Loss 

 from spoilage was 

 very small, in no 



case being more than two per cent and in most cases 

 running less than one per cent. The cost of doing 

 the work where volunteer labor was used was very 

 low, running from 3 to 7 cents per quart, with an average 

 price for all fruits and vegetables of 6 cents per quart 

 jar. In those communities where all paid labor was used, 

 the prices ran from 7 to 13 cents per quart, with an aver- 

 age for all products of 10 cents per jar. Items included 

 were labor, sugar, salt and rubber rings. 



T^HE attitude of the Food Administration is exemplified by the 

 -*- following letter received by the Commission: 



Mr. Charles Lathrop Pack, President, 

 National War Garden Commission, 

 Washington, D. C. 

 Dear Sir: 



It is highly gratifying to those having food conservation at heart to 

 see the great interest now being taken in vegetable drying in the homes 

 throughout the United States. One of the most vital needs of America and 

 the Allies is that the food supply be developed to the highest extent and that 

 waste of every sort be prevented. If this is done, there will be an abundance, 

 not only for the people of America, but for the suffering countries of Europe 

 as well. Home drying of fruits and vegetables is an important contribution 

 to the attainment of this aim and it should be accepted as a patriotic duty of 

 every household. 



It is undoubtedly true and should be so recognized that the home dried 

 products will vary in uniformity and appearance and that the best results 

 of dehydration at the lowest cost of production will undoubtedly be obtained 

 when the process is developed upon a commercial scale. As yet, however, the 

 commercial development of the industry has not been perfected nor has it 

 reached a scale that will meet the nation's needs for this form of conserva- 

 tion. 



Before this can be done there must be real demand for products prepared 

 by this method. The success of home drying during the past few years has 

 gone far to acquaint large numbers of consumers with the desirability of 

 foods preserved by this method and warrants the assurance that the home 

 drying movement of 1918 should be expanded as much as possible and so 

 made an important part of the national program for food conservation. 



Dehydration has come to stay in this country and while it may still be 

 regarded as in the experimental stage, those who are most familiar 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. 



The impetus given to the process of canning by the Civil War bids fair 

 to be outrivalled by the impetus given to this simpler and more universally 

 applicable method of food conservation and there seems to be no reason why 

 the abundance of one season or one locality should not be made available 

 by this means for periods of scarcity or for regions where fresh fruits and 

 vegetables cannot be obtained. 



Every encouragement, therefore, should be given to home drying, in 

 order that the people may become familiar with the excellence of the pro- 

 ducts which may be prepared by this method, and to save the vast quantities 

 of excellent food which now goes to waste for lack of adequate methods of 

 conservation. 



Very truly yours, 



LOU D. SWEET, 



U. S. Food Administration, 



Dehydration Section. 



The views of David Fairchild, agricultural explorer in 

 charge of the bureau of plant industry, United States 

 Department of Agriculture, on the important subject of 

 drying vegetables, follows: 



"I believe the American public should learn to use dried vege- 

 tables, because in so doing great economies can be brought about 

 in this country as they have in Germany and Austria. The 

 dehydrated vegetable saves transportation of both bulky fresh 

 vegetables and bulky canned vegetables, not only those portions 

 which are actually consumed but the waste which forms so 

 large a part of the garbage of our cities. The dehydrated vege- 

 table saves tin, since 

 it can be put up in 

 paper containers. It 

 saves labor in the 

 small home where the 

 convenience of its use 

 is apparent. It saves 

 in wastage at the 

 point of production 

 and in the home. We 

 little appreciate how 

 gigantic the wastage 

 of fresh vegetables is, 

 and this wastage is 

 largely because the 

 vegetables are too 

 cheap on the market 

 to warrant a grower 

 to ship them to it, 

 and it is here that 

 dehydration should 

 play an important 

 role. 



There is nothing 

 in the vegetable situ- 

 ation which confronts 

 us today to assure us 

 of cheaper vegetables 

 in the future. We 

 must not forget the 

 small proportion of 

 women gardeners in 

 this country as com- 

 pared with the 

 women field workers 

 of France and Ger- 

 many and even Eng- 

 land, and vegeta- 

 bles require a large 

 amount of hand labor 

 to produce. Where 

 is the labor coming 

 from ? 



"Possessing as we 

 do such remarkable 

 food as Indian corn, 

 and having learned 

 as we have to like it, 

 there would seem to be a danger that we depend too fully upon 

 it and, with the increasing price of vegetables, fail to realize that 

 as we increase our corn consumption we require greater quanti- 

 ties of milk, meat, fats or vegetables to supply the food essentials 

 lacking in corn. As the fresh vegetables become scarcer on the 

 markets, it would become more and more difficult to do this, 

 and the result predicted by dieticians is malnutrition among those 

 who think they cannot afford to buy the vegetables. We should 

 learn to use these dried vegetables to supplement the grain ration. 

 "It is easy to see a hundred reasons why we should not eat 



