1316 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
November 4, 1022 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
We had our first heavy frost on the 
night of October IS. That was 10 (lays 
later than the average, bul it came like a 
wolf when it once started. I knew by 0 
o’clock that our cotton was doomed; an 
advanced boll here and there may make a 
little lint, but this fierce blast out of the 
north was enough. We have learned to 
take what nature hands out to us with a 
smile; anyway, on such a night, wool 
was far more suitable than cotton. Wo 
will try it ag tin next your, under better 
conditions. 1 had been reading a rather 
curious hook, entitled “Diet and Race,” 
by Armitage. The author attempts to 
trace the diet of various peoples from 
earlier times, and to show that what 
men eat has much to do with their size, 
their color and the shape of then- skulls, 
taken as a result of many generations of 
feeding, lie certainly makes out a good 
case for milk and its products, and for 
vegetables, but the most curious thing 
about it is his claim that the use of salt 
has much to do with the color of the skin. 
We have been taught that the action of 
the sun has most, to do with color, but 
Armitage seems to prove that there are 
fair-skinned people in Africa who for 
ages have had full access to salt, while 
most of the black races go without it. 
He tells in one place in Africa where the 
people live on meal and water, fish and 
game, and .a sort of oil or vegetable but¬ 
ter. Children will suck pieces of rock 
salt as though they were candy, and rich 
men are those who eat stilt with their 
food! This author suggests that the 
negroes in this country, with full access 
to salt, may grow lighter in color, so that 
at the end of lO generations or more they 
may be nearly white. 
* ♦ ♦ * # 
Well, I shall not be here to see it, but 
Armitage seems to prove that food habits 
are inherited. Men will go back to the 
food of their ancestors at the call of the 
past. No matter how far the dictates of 
society may lead them, the Yankee will 
go back to his baked beans, the German 
to his sauerkraut, the Russian to his 
cabbage soup, and the Southerner to hot 
biscuits and side meat. I was thinking 
how these inherited habits affect civiliza¬ 
tion, when the hoys rushed in with an 
important, announcement: 
"Come on out and see it!” 
So I went out into the frosty air, and 
there, behind the house, was a fat ‘pos¬ 
sum. Crowder, the hound dog. stood oxer 
it, wagging his tail to show his great sat¬ 
isfaction. I suppose if a candidate for 
governor had a tail he would wag it in 
much the same way when on election 
night it became evident that hi 1 hud won. 
This ‘pussttin had been stealing our corn 
in the hack field. After a long tramp 
Crowder got on his trail and ran him into 
a hole under a stump. The flashlight re¬ 
vealed the hissing and snarling ’possum, 
hacked up at the bottom of the hole. It 
fell to Cherry-top to get him out. lie 
reached in, and when tire ’possum opened 
his month the boy caught hint by the 
lower jaw mid with si quick jerk pulled 
him out. A ml here he was, with fat, 
which represented much of my corn, roll¬ 
ing over his body. 
“What do you do with him?" 
“We sell him to the colored folks!” 
"Are they fond of ’possum?” 
" Ire they/ Wait anil see!” 
Here was proof, right at home, of what 
Armitage had written. These colored 
people of ours were horn and raised in 
New Jersey. It is doubtful if any of 
their ancestor* ever lived In the South. 
As is well known, New Jersey was the 
only Northern State which held any 
slaves* at the 1)j-euking out of the Civil 
War. I think ninny or iiionf of our col¬ 
ored people tied from New York City 
across the river during the draft riots in 
the Civil War. and never went back. Yet 
they have this inherited love for 'possum. 
Where does it coup* from? I could not 
bring myself to eat a ’possum or a wood¬ 
chuck, though both are cleaner in their 
habits than chickens. f once knew ait 
Englishman wlm (old me ven frankly: 
“1 Itad a high regard for you until I dis¬ 
covered that in your youth you contracted 
the disgusting and fixed habit of eating 
baked beams.” And then the English¬ 
man proceeded to eat. several slices of 
practically raw beef from the inside of a 
U 
roast. 
*» 
$ $ # # 
No time like the present when you are 
dealing in ’possum meat, so the hoys de¬ 
cided to deliver their kill at once. I went 
along with them in the car. Cherry-top 
at the wheel and the Japanese boy and 
Crowder behind, guarding tlie* ’possum. 
The dog *eemed to '• •••> 'tint he had earned 
tin* ride. There was u'llv one dim light in 
the little colony where In colored people 
live, and very likely tlxe inmate had 
started for bed. lmt a 'possum i- a very 
important, visitor, and it did not take long 
to make a bargain. I should have been 
inclined to throw in a few of our sweet 
P toes as an appropriate side dish, but 
I lie boys seem to know their business bet¬ 
ter than 1 do. I sat in the car and 
watched the bargaining. This man, 
framed in the dim light of the doorway, 
1 lding the ’possum by its tail to esti¬ 
mate its weight and fat is, in his way, 
living proof of what 1 have been studying 
in ' Diet and Race.” What a dinner that 
f t little animal will make, roasted with 
potatoes and swimming in gravy! Not 
any for me. please. Inn ibis man is fol¬ 
lowing the urge of centuries—the feeding 
habits of uncounted generations. Who 
.am I to criticize him? It might be ipiite 
possible for me to Come to tile time when 
I would turn from a king’s banquet to eat 
it couple of lishballs like Aunt Ellen used 
to make, cooked in butter, brown and 
crisp and thin, with a couple of those 
Eight Brahma eggs mixed in with the fish 
and potato. And tin's man in the door, 
swinging the 'possum by the tail and 
with, even now, a film of moisture show¬ 
ing at tin* corners of his month, would 
marvel at my choice! And this man will 
be free to use all the salt he desires on 
his roasted ’possum. As 1 look at that 
black face, with the boys’ flashlight play¬ 
ing over it. I wonder if there is anything 
in this salt theory advanced by Armitage. 
He certainly presents it strong case. It 
is not impossible that the future descend¬ 
ants of this man. through normal eating 
of salt, may become nearly as white as 
the rest of ns! (tor colored people are, 
for tin* most part, good citizens, indus¬ 
trious and as intelligent as many of the 
whites. Their children go to the public 
schools with our own children, but they 
have their own churches and societies. 
And they are fond of ’possum. And so 
our quartette rode home. The hoys were 
considering their bargain, I was think¬ 
ing of this problem of “Diet and Race,” 
and I have no doubt Crowder on the hack 
seat was questioning the white man’s jus¬ 
tice. which urged him to take the risk of 
killing the ‘possoni and yet never offered 
him a slice of the meat. There came to 
mind an incident recorded in Booker T. 
Washington’s *Tp Prom Slavery.” He 
says the first clear recollection of home 
was waking up in a small cabin on a 
dark night to find his mother cooking a 
chicken over an open fire. Washington 
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The question of diet- and food is com¬ 
ing to be a practical one in our business 
of farming. Food habit.- are changing in 
spite of all we can do. To some extent 
the mind i- mastering the stomach iu the 
•selection of food. Not long ago a man 
name here to talk about apple varieties. 
I took him on the hill and let hint sam¬ 
ple Baldwin, Sutton, McIntosh and 
others, and at the same time study their 
varying habits "f growth. Finally, I 
handed him a big Pippin. Really, I did 
pot. Intend to talk as though I were try¬ 
ing to sell a hook or a Washing machine, 
but I got going: 
“Take this apple you have in your 
hand. Let your wife cut out the core 
and put in a spoonful of brown sugar. 
Then let her bake it slowly in a dish con¬ 
taining half an inch of water until it be¬ 
comes soft, like jelly. Put it over night 
in tlte icebox and place it before you for 
breakfast. Do you know what you will 
do?” 
lie* looked at the apple affectionately, 
as one who prepares himself for sonic 
supreme effort of-benevolence: 
“No, I can't imagine!” 
“Why, after eating that baked apple 
you will feel so good that you will go 
right out and buy a new fur coat for voitr 
wife." 
"Here," lie said, “take it right back ! 
Keep me out of temptation. That would 
rttiu im*!” 
“Well, try it another way. You get 
down first and put the apple before your 
wife and let her eat it. Nothing will he 
too good for you. Any little favor will he 
yours.” 
“Here, let mo have that apple again!" 
You see. there i- more to this matter 
of diet, and food habits than we think. 
Just now there is considerable danger 
that the market for potatoes will decline, 
ltecan.se -o many people are giving up 
potatoes for rice and similar food. There 
is no question about it. rite habit of leav¬ 
ing potatoes out of the diet is growing, 
and it is one of tin- worst things that can 
happen to the Eastern fanner. I have 
seen this coming ever since, during the 
war. potatoes reached if.” per bushel at 
retail. That meant a g»*i*nf temporary 
advantage to people who had potatoes to 
-ell at that time, hut it drove Thousands 
of city families to rice, cornmeal and 
macaroni, and many of them have never 
come back. In in ** v of our Eastern 
cities 50 jM*r cent or more of tin* people 
trace hack to the south of Europe, where 
potatoes are not eaten as they are in the 
more northern latitudes. My observation 
is that foreigners, when they coute to 
America, takt* up the eating «*f potatoes 
as an acquired habit. They eat them be¬ 
cause others <h». Our colored friends may 
eat beef and mutton, but will they not get 
up in the night to eat a ’possum? When 
potatoes soared to a prohibitive price dur¬ 
ing the war, thousands of these families 
of foreigners stopped buying them, and 
went hack to extra bread, rice and mac¬ 
aroni. I fear they are nor likely to come 
back until in some way we can convince 
them that it is profitable and fashionable 
to eat potatoes. u, w, c, 
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