October. 1917 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



87 



which only thrive in soil neutral in its reaction. 

 It is, moreover, certain that the bacteria which 

 enable the leguminous plants to use the nitro- 

 gen of the air thrive best in the presence of 

 lime. It is known that there are found in 

 many soils, organic products which inhibit 

 plant growth, even when present in minute 

 amounts, and that these products are not so 

 often found in soils which contain a proper 

 proportion of lime. 



Present Time Opportunity 



CINCE it is becoming increasingly difficult 

 ^ to secure stable manure in sufficient 

 quantity it behooves the gardener to make the 



most of his own resources which include the 

 growing of green manures whenever the land is 

 not busy with a saleable crop. After the mid- 

 dle of August certain parts of the garden are 

 left bare while others will retain their crops 

 until late in September or even October. 

 Crimson clover is the most valuable of all the 

 green crops and as the seed is cheap it should 

 be sown on every square foot of available 

 soil using not more than a half pound of 

 seed to the square rod. As it is sometimes 

 difficult to get crimson clover properly started 

 in dry weather it is wise to put on the same 

 land at the same time a seeding of rye which 

 is the most reliable of all green cover crops. 

 It has such a remarkable ability to start 



growth in dry ground that it can be depended 

 upon to grow when all else fails. [In the 

 North October will be too late to sow any 

 cover crop other than rye. Ed.] When the 

 seed can be obtained it is well to use in ad- 

 dition to these a sprinkling of winter vetch as 

 the three species together would make a larger 

 and more useful growth than any one alone. 

 Such a covering of green manure will be 

 sufficient to add most of the nitrogen necessary 

 for the next year's garden; will supply a 

 quantity of organic matter sufficient to carry a 

 crop through an additional two weeks of 

 drought and will save from leaching out in the 

 drainage water this winter as much plant food 

 as is required for next season. 



Using Fruits and Vegetables Wisely 



CROPS HAVE BEEN GROWN, CANNED, AND STORED.— THEIR PROPER USE ON THE TABLE IS THE PRESENT PROBLEM 

 OF THE PEOPLE IN ORDER TO REALIZE TO THE LIMIT THEIR POTENTIAL VALUE 



[Editor s Note: This article, which has received the approval of the U. S. Food Administration, has been prepared by recognized authorities for 

 the purpose of giving those who own gardens a realization of the great part they are able to take in the existent crisis. It is not the part of wisdom to en- 

 deavor to live withoirt proper food at proper times, and in proper quantity. We have, however, been prone to eat without regard to any far-reaching in- 

 fluence because we lived in abundance and luxury. Now, with the need of all the peoples of the world pressing for our considerate attention, we must 

 choose our food for the best interest of the whole world. The home gardener s patriotic duty is clearly laid down: He must utilize to the fullest 

 extent the food materials easily at hand, so as to liberate elsewhere those other food materials that are more concentrated and more easily transported. And 

 it is not a hardship — only learning to live up to opportunities .] 



IN THIS fall season, with plentiful fruits 

 and vegetables surrounding us on every 

 hand and with the fear before us of a 

 scarcity of food in all lands, it is worth 

 while to think whether we may not use more 

 freely and more wisely these supplies that lie 

 at our doors. 



If we live in the country, fruits and vege- 

 tables are notonly abundant but cheap andmay 

 often be had for the gathering; we who have 

 our own gardens, need no inducement to use 

 freely the material that we have planted, 

 tended and watered through the long summer; 

 those w-ho live in a city apartment, and have 

 had no garden to plant, and if the fruits and 

 vegetables are so expensive as to seem almost 

 like luxuries, still must use them if at all pos- 

 sible, both because they are good for them and 

 because they may be made to take the place 

 of some of the foods upon which we have been 

 accustomed to depend. Even the many who, 

 in this time of high prices, can only use the 

 cheaper foods must still have at least the small 

 amount of fruits and vegetables that are neces- 

 sary for well-being. 



Most of us have thought of the grapes or 

 cantaloupe we eat for breakfast, or of the 

 orange salad for lunch, or the apple compote 

 for dinner largely as a matter of flavor, an ad- 

 ditional gratification for the palate; we have 

 used vegetables chiefly to give variety. We 

 have, of course, known in a vague way that 

 these foods are desirable from the standpoint 

 of health, but how or why we have hardly 

 cared to question. 



To-day there has come an emergency- We 

 are asked to eat wisely and well. We are 

 asked to change some of our food habits. 

 Among other things we are asked as far as pos- 

 sible to make use of the "perishables" that 

 nothing may be lost. If we are to do this in 

 the right way and make these take the place of 

 some of our usual foods, we not only must 

 know their real food value but we must know as 

 well the fundamental needs of the bodv and 

 how these are supplied by the different foods. 

 Only then are we ready to use in place of part 



of our meat, our cereals, and our sugar, these 

 foods that are difficult to transport, when 

 transporation is needed for other purposes, 

 and that may play an important part in the 

 present situation because they set free some of 

 the staple foods for the use of our Allies, for the 

 use of our own people who are living on a mini- 

 mum amount, and for our soldiers. In or- 

 dinary times we may "muddle along" in our 

 well-to-do fashion, with the comfortable 

 assurance that if we are using an ordinary 

 mixed diet we are probably getting what we 

 need. To-day we must know; we may no 

 longer guess. 



AXrE ALL know in a general way that our 

 " » food furnishes material to build the body 

 and to repair the waste that is constantly 

 going on as a part of the life process; that it 

 furnishes fuel, which yields heat and gives the 

 energy not only for the work that we do but 

 also for the internal work of the body — such as 

 the beating of the heart. We have only lately 

 begun to understand that this is only part of 

 the story, and that the food furnishes also 

 certain things that we may call regulating sub- 

 stances. 



Some of these are the mineral salts that also 

 act as building material, some are acids such as 

 add flavor and refreshment to our fruits, and 

 some are the newly discovered substances, as 

 yet unnamed, whose nature is unknown, but 

 which seem necessary to health and growth. 

 These have sometimes been called "vita- 

 mines" and are sometimes spoken of simply as 

 "fat soluble" and "water soluble" substances. 

 The fat soluble substance is found in milk fat, 

 in egg yolk, in meat fat, and in the green leaves 

 of plants. This seems to be especially neces- 

 sary for children since growth does not take 

 place without it. The water soluble substance 

 is more widely distributed and is found in 

 fruits and root vegetables and in some 

 amount in most of our common foods except 

 fats, cereals that have had the outer coating 

 removed, and such foods as sugar and com- 

 mercial starch. 



"Food" or "Fuel" Values? 



/^\UR FRUITS and vegetables, with a few 

 ^^ exceptions, have only a small amount of 

 that indispensable kind of building material 

 found in meat, milk, eggs, and grains, called 

 bv that much shunned name protein. Only a 

 few of them can furnish much fuel in the form 

 of starch, and still fewer offer it in the form of 

 fat. All ripe fruits and many vegetables con- 

 tain sugar. But it is especially because of the 

 abundance of mineral matter such as iron and 

 lime salts, and of the regulating and growth- 

 promoting substances, that we need always in- 

 clude at least some of these foods in our diet. 

 They furnish, too, some of the indigestible 

 matter that we may call roughage and that 

 must be provided to give enough bulk to our 

 diet. The fruits are nearly all somewhat 

 laxative, due not only to the roughage but to 

 the mineral matter and acid present. They 

 are a good supplement to cereals, meat, and 

 eggs. Most of the vegetables and fruits, even 

 acid fruits, such as oranges and lemons, after 

 they are utilized in the body are no longer acid 

 but alkaline. 



WE FIND all the time different estimates 

 of the food value of fruits and vege- 

 tables. One picks up a paper and finds that 

 cabbage, for example, has "very little food 

 value" and is an extravagant addition to the 

 diet. Some else will say that the same food is 

 exceedingly desirable. The truth depends 

 upon our interpretation of "food value." If 

 we mean by this the fuel value of the food, i. e., 

 if we mean that the food will produce a large 

 amount of heat or power to work, in other 

 words, that it has a high energy value, we must 

 agree that very few of our fruits and vegetables 

 have a high food value. Perhaps we might bet- 

 ter say that they have a high value as food. 



A Word to the Cook 



SINCE we use our vegetables largely for 

 their mineral salts, we should see that in 

 the process of cooking this mineral matter is 

 kept and not thrown away. Steaming the 



