10 BULLETIN 123, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
time to prepare. The former do not realize that the most satisfactory 
salads are usually the simplest; and the latter forget that fresh cu- 
cumbers served with oil and vinegar, or the “ greens” left over from 
dinner and served cold with vinegar at supper, are just as truly salads 
as elaborate combinations of all sorts of fruit and nuts and mayon- 
naise dressing. Moreover, the fact that small quantities of different 
materials can be easily combined to make an attractive salad, shows 
that it is often an economical and sensible dish. : 
Returning to the vegetables which can be used raw in salads, that 
is, the salad plants, they are valuable because their freshness and 
attractive appearance arouse an appetite for the more substantial 
materials served with them. Moreover, in this shape the body gets 
all the iron, calcium, and other mineral constituents present, and also 
vitamins, as certain substances are termed which are needed in at 
least small amounts for normal growth and health, and which 
may be partly lost or perhaps rendered less useful by cooking. 
Hence the desire for such foods should be considered to represent a 
real need, and raw salad plants and fruits should be supplied freely. 
“Spring bitters,” which the housewives of earlier days thought 
necessary, are more palatable when obtained from salads than from 
medicine bottles. Aside from any question of medicinal value, such 
plants help to make the diet attractive and give a relish to food, 
particularly in the spring, when one is weary of the limited variety 
of the winter table. 
The distinctive salad plants are very succulent; that is, they con- 
sist very largely of water. This is the chief reason why they are 
especially refreshing in warm weather and give a pleasant contrast 
to the heavier dishes of a heavy meal. They also serve to prevent 
too great concentration of food, and thus aid in the digestive process. 
It is a very common custom to combine fat with salad plants, fresh 
or cooked. Fat is a compact food and, weight for weight, is about 
two and a quarter times as valuable as protein or carbohydrate for 
fuel in the human body. A tablespoonful of oil would go farther 
toward supplying energy for keeping the human machinery running 
than a large head of lettuce. The world over people have instinc- 
tively added a condensed dressing consisting mainly of fat (oil, 
bacon fat, or cream) to the salad plants bulky with cellular tissue 
and water, and have eaten such salads with meat and bread which 
supply protein and carbohydrates. 
The use of salad plants and salads as decorations on the dining 
table deserves consideration. 
Green salad plants grow near the earth and so are likely to be 
soiled with dirt which may often be accompanied by bacteria and 
other living things, which cause disease. They should always be 
made clean before use. Water cleanses to some extent, but only 
