4tiS 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



say on this important subject. In a letter to the Com- 

 mission he says : 



"Dehydration has come to stay in this country and 

 while it may still be regarded in the experimental stage, 

 those who are most familiar with the problem of food 

 production and conservation, are firm in the opinion 

 that we are 

 seeing only 

 the begin- 

 n i n g of 

 what is 

 sure to ex- 

 pand into 

 an enor- 

 mous and 

 important 

 industry. 

 Every en- 

 courage- 

 m e n t , 

 therefore, 

 should be 

 given to 

 home dry- 

 ing, in or- 

 der that 

 the people 

 may be- 

 come fami- 

 liar with 

 the excel- 

 1 e n c e of 

 the pro- 

 ducts 

 which may 

 be p re- 

 pared by this method, and to save the vast quantities of 

 excellent food which goes to waste for lack of adequate 

 means of conservation." 



The saving of transportation space, a vital problem 

 now, caused the United States Army Quartermaster's 

 Corps to buy large quantities of dehydrated vegetables 

 for the soldiers of the American Expeditionary Force 

 in France. 



Canada is doing good work in dehydration, according 

 to Joseph D. Bates, of Springfield, who made a tour of the 

 Dominion. "I visited the plant of the Graham Company 

 of Belleville, Ontario," said Mr. Bates, "where they were 

 on an order running about $5,000,000 worth of dried 

 vegetables, more particularly a soup mixture. They 

 dry by a simple method consisting of cabinets into 

 which wire trays are placed. The drying is done 

 by steam pipes underneath the rows of trays. 

 "Why has so little been done in drying in this country?" 

 Mr. Bates asks. "The preservation of food is vital and 

 the food-drying method is not new, but has been experi- 

 mented with abroad for many years. The question 

 cannot fail to come; why have we done so very little 



YES, THIS IS A TURNIP! 



Before and after soaking you can see what happens 

 to the turnip. Dried vegetahles are the thing now-a- 

 days. The process is simple and when it comes to 

 putting food away space conditions can always be met 

 by drying. 



with it? I put that question to a number of authorities 

 in Washington. They say it is because people do not 

 know about it. It seems to me that this necessary and 

 practical knowledge should be brought to everyone's 

 mind. The great difficulty," he continued, "is that the 

 public is slow to take up new foods and new methods of 

 preparing foods. We must begin in the homes by 

 having all the home dryers necessary, no matter how 

 simple, installed. Get people to know drying as they 

 know canning. Get them to realize what a protection 

 for their families it is to dry food. A drying plant, 

 used much as communities used the old-time grist-mill, 

 should be installed. Families could bring their surplus 

 here to be dried, paying a small sum for the service, or 

 leave a small percentage of their products." 



Mr. Bates estimates that a dried pound of vegetables 

 costs about sixteen cents, exclusive of the drying. This 

 is estimated on the basis of an original cost of two 

 cents a pound a fairly high estimate. Eliminate peel- 

 ings and there is left a drying weight of about one- 

 eighth. This drying process depends upon conditions. 

 If the owner wishes to leave material in a dryer 

 without moving air it will dry cheaper, but it 

 takes time and space. If current is attached it adds to 

 the expense. Some plants, said to be commercial ones, 

 run as high or even higher than double the cost of the 

 fresh material. Thus if the cost of the fresh material 

 was sixteen cents a pound the total cost of the dried 

 pound will be thirty-two cents. Commercial dryers oper- 

 ating with labor-saving machinery can bring this down 



to one cent, 

 one-half cent, 

 and, in Ger- 

 many, they 

 figure one- 

 quarter of a 

 cent a dried 

 pound. 



Buffalo, New 

 York, has 

 taken the lead 

 in establishing 

 a community 

 dryingkitchen, 

 which was 

 opened near 

 the city mar- 

 ket as a means 

 of utilizing the 

 market waste. 

 Its excellent 

 record has not 

 only given the 

 whole city an 



THE BEET WILL FOOL YOU object leSSOn 



The way the beet comes back to natural size is "* IOOU COn- 

 astonishing and that is one of the virtues of drying _.,,,*:.-. Unf 

 the things that take up so little room. servdllUIl, UUI 



