24 DEHYDRATION OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. 



or something of that sort, and I take it, if I understood Mr. Horst 

 right, there would be an enormous saving to the ultimate consumer. 



Mr. Sweet. There is no question about it at all. 



The Chairman. There is an even greater saving in tomatoes and 

 things of that sort, than potatoes? 



Mr. Sweet. There will be a great saving in potatoes, because of the 

 reduced waste from the tremendous loss we are having to-day in 

 handling potatoes by deterioration. 



Senator Smith of Georgia. I understood you to say it cost 1.5 cents 

 a pound average. 



Mr. Sweet. That is the figure, about, for the dried product ; that is 

 what the dried product would cost. 



Senator Smith of Georgia. To change it from the green to the 

 dried state? 



Mr. Sweet. Yes. 



Senator Sjiith of Georgia. And then the additional cost would 

 depend upon what was paid for the raw material? 



Mr. Sweet. Yes, sii'. 



Senator Hmith of Georgia. What is the relative food value of the 

 dried pound of the material before it was di'ied? 



Mr. S^\ eet. I think Dr. Alsburg, Chief of our Bureau of Chem- 

 istry, can better answer that than I can. From all I am able to find 

 out about it. by eating them, as I have for some time, I can tell no 

 difference between the good dehydrated products and the fresh prod- 

 ucts. Dr. ]\IcCul]en, of Johns Hopkins University, says that he finds 

 them comparable to fresh vegetables, and he sees no reason why any 

 of the food values should be lost. His experiments with a number 

 of the vegetable: — cabbage and others — prove that they are as good 

 as the fresh vegetables. 



Senator Smith of Georgia. His theory is that the pound' of dried 

 potatoes has as mi!cli food value us the potatoes from which the 

 pound of dried potatoes were produced? 



Mr. Sweet. True ; yes, sir. 



The CiiAiR^rAN. And that enables you to distribute the whole 

 perishable croj) over the entire United States? 



Mr. Sweet. Now, it comes to the point of our Army, they realiz- 

 ing now that they will need \egetables abrf)ad and can not obtain 

 fresh vegetables for the summer months. 



Senator Smith of Georgia. That is not a matter of fxi)ert testi- 

 mony. We know as much about that as anybody. 



Mr. Sweet. You know as niuch about that as anybody, bnt the only 

 point I was making was about the shipping capacity. 



Senator Smthi of Georgia. We understand the shipping matter, 

 too. What we do not know is. what it cost to produce this result 

 and A\hat the food value of the result is. 



The CirAiRMAK. I think he told that in your absence, about the 

 English Government. 



Senatoi' S:\htii of Geoi'gia. I hertrd that. If these potatoes have 

 half tlie food \alue that the green potatoes have and at any reason- 

 able cost they can bo dried, it is a perfectly clear proposition that 

 the (iovernment can not afford to wait to start drying. 



Senator Korris. I notice in these samples that the potato samples 

 were cooked before tliey were dried. Is that the usual wav of 

 doing it? 



