Photograph from U. S. Department of Agriculture 

 WHERE MILLIONS OF BUSHELS OF AMERICAN CEREALS COME FOR EXPORT: JERSEY 

 CITY TERMINAL OF A GRAIN-CARRYING RAILROAD 



of mutton. The Chinese mandarin pays 

 thirty dollars a pound for the birds' nests 

 from which his soup is concocted. In 

 parts of the West Indies the palm worm 

 is stewed in fat, while certain African 

 tribes are as fond of caterpillars as an 

 American is of reed birds on toast. The 

 Turk is as disgusted with the oysters we 

 eat as we are with the fish the Corsican 

 relishes. 



Eating earth, or geophagy, is a common 

 thing in many parts of the world. In 

 some parts of Europe a butter is made of 

 fine clay, and in other regions various 

 kinds of earths are sold in the open mar- 

 ket. The Persians use some varieties of 

 soil in making their sweetmeats, while in 

 Mexico the eggs of certain species of flies 

 are used by the Indians in making a food 

 paste which is regarded as a great deli- 

 cacy (see page 41). 



FOOD IMPORTS AND EXPORTS 



It is interesting, in view of war con- 

 ditions in Europe, to study the figures of 

 international trade as applied to the prin- 

 cipal foodstuffs moving across the bound- 

 aries of the various nations. 



According to the Department of Agri- 

 culture statistics, Austria-Hungary im- 

 ported 29,000,000 bushels of corn in 1912, 

 as compared with 8,000,000 bushels in 



191 1 and 3,000,000 bushels in 1910. Ger- 

 many's importations of corn during the 

 same years were as follows: 1912, 45,- 

 000,000 bushels; 191 1, 29,000,000 bush- 

 els, and 1 9 10, 23,000,000 bushels. In 



191 2 Germany and Austria-Hungary had 

 a total importation of 74,000,000 bushels. 

 During the same year Bulgaria and Rou- 

 mania had a surplus of 75,000,000 

 bushels. 



In 1912 Germany imported 85,000,000 

 bushels of wheat and flour, being the 

 only one of the Central Powers to import 

 such commodities. She exported 20,000,- 

 000 bushels of the same products. Bul- 

 garia had a surplus of 14,500,000 bushels 

 and Austria-Hungary a surplus of 1,000,- 

 000 bushels. Their neighbor, Roumania, 

 had a surplus of 57,000,000 bushels that 

 year. If the Central Powers get Rou- 

 mania's wheat crop, they still have a 

 wheat shortage of more than 12,000,000 

 bushels. If they do not get it, their 

 shortage is 69,000,000 bushels. 



90 



