4 MISC. PUBLICATION' 5 2 4, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



and in promoting and preserving the general health." The author of 

 this book, 2 after listing the percentages of water in the common veg- 

 etables, continues : 



As desiccated vegetables, the water is in large part removed, the bulk cor- 

 respondingly reduced, and the liability to injury from variations of heat and 

 atmospheric moisture overcome. Potatoes, cabbages, turnips, carrots, parsnips, 

 beets, tomatoes, onions, peas, beans, lentils, celery, &c, are thoroughly cleaned, 

 sliced, dried in a current of heated air, weighed, seasoned, and pressed with the aid 

 of a hydraulic press into compact forms, sealed in tin cases, and enclosed in 



Figuee 3. — Three crates of raw carrots can be reduced by dehydration to just 

 enough to fill one 5-gallon can. This small pile, however, when it has soaked up 

 enough water to restore it to nearly its original condition, will serve 600 men. 

 The container shown is of the type in which dehydrated foods are commonly 

 packed for shipment to our armed forces. 



wooden boxes. In this condition they are sent to the field. An ounce is a ra- 

 tion. A block 1-foot square and 2 inches thick weighs 7 pounds, and contains 

 vegetables for a single ration for 112 men. It requires only to be soaked in 

 cold water and then sufficiently boiled, with a piece of meat, to make a savory 

 and every way delicious soup. * * * 



It is questionable how much of the vitamin content was retained in 

 foods so dried and pressed. The existence of vitamins was of course 

 unsuspected, but evidently the wartime advantages of dehydration 

 were appreciated as far back as the 1860's. 



During the Boer War, Great Britain sent large quantities of dried 

 vegetable-soup mixture to South Africa. After 1900 Germany and 

 other Central European countries made substantial advances in de- 



2 Horsford, E. N. the aemt ration'. 44 pp. New York. 1864. (See p. 11.) 



