September, 1918 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



47 



outbreak of the present war. The American 

 Army is following uuit. 



Perhaps there is no man living to-day who can 

 speak with more authority on conditions in South 

 Africa than John Hays Hammond, the famous 

 international mining engineer, who was a big 

 factor in the development of that rich territory. 

 Here is what Mr. Hammond said in discussing 

 the subject: 



The supplies of dried vegetables which were shipped from Canada 

 to South Africa duirng the Boer War were found to be just as pal- 

 atable, just as nutritious, as any of the other rations. I doubt if a 

 single one of the men could have told the difference between this 

 part of their mess and the other edibles that were furnished them. 

 Certainly this is borne out by what a close friend of mine, Dr. 

 Charles L. Lindley, of Lakewood, N. J., himself born in South 

 Africa and an army surgeon during Lord Roberts's campaign there, 

 recently told me. His experience with dried vegetables confirms 

 every claim that can be made for them as a valuable part of a 

 soldier's rations. 



The American Army, I have been informed , has seen the value of 

 using dried foods because of the cargo space that can be saved and 

 the greater ease in handling large quantities; and the subsistence 

 division of the army quartermaster's department already has pur- 

 chased several thousand tons of dehydrated products for use of our 

 boys overseas; and has made plans for the shipment of possibly as 

 much as 20,000,000 pounds of such supplies. 



As a member of the National War Garden Com- 

 mission, Mr. Hammond is especially interested 

 in the problem of dried foods and in the work 

 which the Commission is doing to spread the 

 gospel among the five million war gardeners 

 of the United States, calling their attention 

 to the valuable patriotic service they can render 

 by conserving as much as possible of their surplus 

 vegetables in this way. It commends itself for 

 many reasons. It results not only in the saving 

 of food which otherwise might go to waste; but it 

 is an inexpensive way of filling up the pantry 

 shelves. Dried products take up little space; 

 almost any sort of a receptacle from a tin can to 

 milady's hat box can be used for storing the prod- 

 ucts, and if they are to be shipped they are light 

 in weight, so that quite a lot could be sent for a 

 few cents to a needy friend, hospital, or other 

 place; and they would not tend to overcrowd 

 already burdened transportation facilities. 



The fine example which hundreds of communities throughout the 

 country are setting this year in establishing dehydration plants and 

 in urging the home gardeners to dry a lot of their vegetables is 

 worthy of highest commendation. 



said Mr. Hammond, in discussing the subject 

 further. "They are following out one of the 



slogans which the National War Garden Commis- 

 sion has sounded: 'Fight the Foe with Dread- 

 naught and Drier.' Food is just as necessary as 

 battleships and bayonets; and everything that 

 can be done to facilitate the saving of food and 

 to increase the supply must be encouraged to 

 the utmost of our might. Here is where drying 

 can render a most valuable service. 



" While the ancient knew something of drying 

 just as they knew something of dreadnaughts — for 

 their three-banked galleys rowed by hundreds of 

 slaves chained to their seat might be called such — 

 their knowledge as compared with present-day 

 information, was about as primitive as the bolo 

 of a South Sea Islander when placed alongside 

 a rapid-fire gun. The drying apparatus is 

 the machine gun with which hundreds and 

 thousands of housewifes all over the country 

 are pouring out the ammunition which will 

 rake down the foe. He cannot stand up under 

 dried shell beans any more than he can ad- 

 vance under the withering fire of shells which 

 our boys are handing out to him. So we 

 say: Go to it, you millions of war garden- 

 ers in America. Raise all the food you can and 

 dry as much as possible. Let Old Sol help you 

 in this work, if you have no other apparatus; 

 and thus will America take her legitimate and 

 proper 'place in the sun.' " 



The subject of dehydration has been given 

 most careful study by scientists; and when the 

 work is done on a commercial scale, great care 

 and exactness is exercised so that the food will 

 keep almost indefinitely and can undergo all 

 sorts of changes in climate and temperature with- 

 out deteriorating or losing any of its flavor and 

 food value. Of course, when the work is done 

 for a household where it is not necessary to pre- 

 serve the product for any great length of time and 

 where it will not be subject to any violent changes 

 of weather, no such precision of preparation is 

 required. 



In its call for the production of " Food F. O. B. 

 the Kitchen Door," the National War Garden 

 Commission has emphasized the vast saving in 

 transportation which is effected by having a sup- 

 ply of vegetables grown where they will not 

 require much handling in getting from the garden 

 to the consumer. In this way thousands of 



freight cars have been saved for other essential 

 war service. 



The same argument is one of the strongest 

 that can be advanced in favor of the drying of 

 vegetables and fruits. One hundred bushels 

 of potatoes, in their natural state, to give one 

 instance, weigh six thousand pounds. Properly 

 dried this is reduced to something like eight 

 hundred pounds, with proportionate shrinkage 

 in volume. In all vegetables the weight is re- 

 duced by drying to one sixth or less of the orig- 

 inal; and the bulk to one third or less. Mr. 

 Lou D. Sweet, president of the Potato Associa- 

 tion of America, popularly referred to as the 

 "Potato King." and whom Mr. Hoover made 

 head of the dehydration section of the United 

 States Food Administration says in a recent 

 communication to the National War Garden 

 Commission: 



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 beginning of what is 

 sure to expand into an enormous and most important industry. 

 Every encouragement, therefore, should be given to home drying, 

 in order that the people may become familiar with the excellence of 

 the products which may be prepared by this method; and to save the 

 vast quantities of excellent food which now go to waste for lack of 

 adequate means of conservation. 



Coming from such a source this subject is 

 surely deserving of the most serious consideration 

 and study by communities, individuals and all who 

 are interested in the vital problem of helping to 

 conserve and increase our food supplies. It will 

 be a long time, in most cases, years after the 

 coming peace before the nations of the world, 

 many of their leaders almost absolutely depleted, 

 are restored to anything like normal food supply 

 condition. 



The home war garden idea has circled the 

 globe. The National War Garden Commission 

 has received numerous requests from foreign 

 countries for copies of its gardening and canning 

 and drying booklets, posters and other literature 

 and for information as to the best methods to 

 pursue in getting this movement started. This 

 cooperation has been gladly and freely given. 

 From France, England and Canada to the far- 

 away islands of the South Pacific; from China, 

 India, pjapan; from Cuba and South America, 

 these requests have come. 



Producing Food from Wood and Oil w.gMcCOLlom 



Keeping the Greenhouse in Profitable Food Crops Without Undue Fuel Use 





TO AVOID any miscomprehension, 

 it is best to state at the outset 

 that the Fuel Administration is not 

 in the least in sympathy with the 

 extensive operation of private green- 

 houses. The Fuel Administration has 

 ruled that 50 per cent, of the last three 

 years' average coal supply could be used 

 for greenhouses this winter. When the 

 coal consumed did not exceed forty tons, 

 commercial plants will be allowed their 

 full one hundred per cent. (See page 6 

 of August issue). This is to protect the 

 small grower. 



Greenhouses on private estates are 

 given the same ruling, but the local fuel 

 administrators are advised to discourage 

 as much as possible the operation of 

 private plants. This was the result of 

 what has been the prevailing impres- 

 sion regarding the uses of the average 

 Rrivate greenhouse — a mere toy where 

 Irs. So-and-So spent time and money 

 playing with a few favorite Orchids, 



Mushrooms are a profitable side crop for the partially heated greenhouses, using 

 otherwise lost space 



or trying to grow some odd freak that 

 meant more expenditure than value. 



But the greenhouse is making a new 

 appeal, and the perfume of Orchids 

 makes way for the substantial odor of 

 onions, cauliflower and other vegetables. 



TT MUST be definitely understood that 

 ■*■ any argument here presented is based 

 on hot-water heating, which is the only 

 practical heating method for a small 

 greenhouse. If steam is used, anything 

 other than anthracite coal is out of the 

 question, and the problem is a big one. 

 Every effort must be made to conserve 

 coal by using other sources of heat dur- 

 ing mild weather, even in midwinter. 

 As a matter of fact, figuring on last win- 

 ter's condition (which was extreme) it 

 should be easily possible to operate the 

 greenhouse to full efficiency on but 

 twenty-five per cent, of the coal used at 

 that time, based on a normal winter 

 season and getting all possible out of 



