CHAPTER XVIII 
THE FUTURE OF DEHYDRATION 
Tall Oaks From Little Acorns Grow 
D EHYDRATION has come to stay in this coun- 
try and, while it may still be regarded as in the 
experimental stage, those who are mostfamiliar 
with the problems 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.” This is the statement 
of an international food expert, a man who probably 
knows more on the subject of dried foods than any other 
authority in the United States. It was made in a re- 
cent letter to the National War Garden Commission, 
by Lou D. Sweet, president of the Potato Association 
of America, popularly known as the “ Potato King.” 
Mr. Sweet was selected by Mr. Hoover as head of the 
dehydration section of the United States Food Admin- 
istration, and has more recently, in association with 
Major S. C. Prescott, U. S. A., been enlisted in the 
government development of dehydration. 
While the drying of food, like some of the other lost 
arts, is almost as old as the human race itself, still its 
value and its importance have been brought to the fore 
by the European war. Necessity has meant the devel- 
opment of an industry which was well-nigh extinct. 
War gardening and the home production of food have 
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