INTRODUCTION 



The food we eat, the clothes we wear, and the house 

 which shelters us, are three great necessities of life. Of 

 these three necessities, food is by far the most important. 

 The ordinary family plans to spend a large part of the daily 

 wages for food. If times are bad, we can live in smaller 

 houses and be very comfortable. We can wear the same 

 clothes twice as long as we expected to, and still not suffer 

 from the cold. But with food it is very different. We 

 must constantly provide ourselves with a nourishing diet, 

 or our strength fails, health gives way, and great suffering 

 is the final result. For a useful and happy existence, 

 nourishing food is of the first importance. 



During the past few years we have heard more and more 

 complaints about the hardships which millions of people 

 in America have suffered because of the high cost of nour- 

 ishing food. During the period when the country was 

 young there was plenty of food. The vast fields of the 

 South and West were covered by the richest earth, which 

 rewarded a small effort with a wonderful harvest. On the 

 plains beyond the Mississippi, millions of cattle and sheep 

 wandered and fed at will, providing us with the best of 

 meat which cost little but the effort to bring it to market. 



Gradually this has changed. The great cattle ranges 

 are no more. Villages and farmhouses dot the prairies 

 where, a few years ago, there was not even a fence. The 



