The Garden Magazine, March, 1924 
41 
again you may raise the ob¬ 
jection that you can not get 
fresh Tomatoes all the year 
round, unless you live in the 
city and have a large enough 
purse to pay the high price 
Tomatoes command out of 
season. 
T HIS is the cue for the 
canned Tomato to enter 
the scene. However, unless 
you have a pressure cooker 
in which to can your To¬ 
matoes, your home canned 
Tomatoes will have to give 
place to those commercially 
canned under pressure. This is because vitamin C, so es¬ 
sential in warding off scurvy, and which, along with vitamin 
A, is necessary for sound, healthy teeth, is very delicate 
and is practically destroyed under all processes of heating, 
unless this is done under pressure, in absence of air and with 
a short period of heating. Vitamins A and B are not appre¬ 
ciably affected by ordinary cooking methods, with the exception 
of frying, provided the vegetable liquor is saved. Since we have 
found, by experiment, that Tomatoes commercially canned, a 
process done under pressure and with very short period of heat¬ 
ing, are much richer in vitamins than those home canned with¬ 
out pressure, the housewife is foolish to waste her time in can¬ 
ning Tomatoes, unless she has a pressure cooker. 
Another advantage that the Tomato holds is that it is eaten 
whole. Even the most inexperienced and careless housewife 
knows better than to drain Tomatoes of their liquor after they 
have been cooked, for she knows that is impossible. One of the 
worst habits in so many of our American homes is that of drain¬ 
ing and parboiling our vegetables. Down the sink so many 
cooks pour that vitally important vegetable liquor, which con¬ 
tains from thirty-six to seventy per cent, of our vitamins as well 
as the highly important mineral salts. No wonder most of us 
are bothered with indigestion, poor teeth, and constipation, as 
well as the more serious diabetes, when we so carelessly throw 
away nature’s safeguards for our health. 
Whenever you can, eat Tomatoes raw and eat them abun¬ 
dantly, for in the raw state we know they yield vitamins in their 
most potent form. Because of the steadily increasing mortality 
due to cancer and diabetes, scientists are urging the eating of 
more raw food. Get back to nature! It is a noteworthy fact 
that no case of cancer has as yet been discovered among the sav¬ 
age tribes. The finger seems to point to the large amount of 
cooked, drained, and highly, though detrimentally, refined 
foods with which we deck our tables. 
U nfortunately, an 
insufficient amount of 
vitamins does not, like a dose 
of poison, manifest itself at 
once in our lives. It often 
takes years before it shows 
up, gradually undermining 
the digestive system and pen¬ 
etrating to the nervous sys¬ 
tem and every part of the 
body. Feed your children 
right is the slogan now, so 
they won’t be a prey to all 
the avoidable grown-up dis¬ 
eases that will attack them 
later in life, as well as the 
disturbances that arise all 
along the years because care was not taken in their feeding 
from infancy on up. 
Along with the popular idea, “ Drink more milk,” 1 would 
add, “Raise and eat more Tomatoes.” If you are fortunate 
enough to have a little garden plot, try raising your own Toma¬ 
toes; but whether you raise them or not, get them from some 
source and get them often. Instead of serving them only oc¬ 
casionally in salads serve them on your table several times a 
week. Most children have to be taught to like Spinach, but 
they take to Tomatoes right away, and do not have to be forced 
to eat them. Because they are so rich in vitamins, are so inex¬ 
pensive and so easily digested, give them the place they deserve. 
Take them out of the luxury class and put them among the 
necessities. 
Although scientists are as yet in the dark as to the exact chem¬ 
ical nature of these highly important vitamins, we do know 
about their presence in foods; the effect of heat, storage, and 
freezing upon them; and the disturbances in the body, caused by 
a lack of insufficient amount of them in the diet. 
The lack of vitamin A in the diet produces a serious eye dis¬ 
ease, called xerophthalmia, very rare in this country. An 
insufficient amount, however, in the diet renders one very 
susceptible to colds and their complications, and has been 
found to be a most serious factor in dental caries or decay of 
teeth. 
In respect to vitamin B, the first one to be discovered, we find 
its absence in the diet produces a disease of the nervous system, 
called beri-beri, uncommon in this country, fortunately, but 
prevalent among white-rice-eating Orientals. Nevertheless, 
an insufficient amount of this vitamin tends toward lung in¬ 
fections, malnutrition, and general digestive disturbances. 
A lack of vitamin C produces scurvy, while an insufficient 
amount produces digestive disturbances and also has a serious 
effect on the liver and teeth. 
lilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllillllllUlilllllim 
MODEL DAILY DIET 
(Selected foods of sufficient vitamin content to 
maintain health) 
Our every-day foods contain all the requisite vitamins—it is not 
necessary to have recourse to “patent medicine” vitamins in tablet 
form. Let your daily menu include: 
(1) An orange, tomato, or grapefruit (one-half) 
(2) An egg and a generous allowance of butter 
(3) Plenty of fresh vegetables (preferably Lettuce, Spinach, 
Tomatoes, Cabbage, or other “green vegetable”) 
(4) Milk, at least a pint per adult and a quart per child 
(5) Whole flour bread 
(6) A bowl of well-cooked cereal 
(7) Meat and potatoes in small quantity only 
WHAT ABOUT THE “CARRIED-OVER” SEEDS? 
A RE last year’s seeds still good? Are they worth taking a chance 
with? It is not worth while saving seeds of Eggplant and 
" Peppers in any case, but if your seed-house supplied new crop 
Beans last season, they will grow even better this year. However, since 
it is practically impossible to check this, it is best to start afresh with 
everything. Parsnip is generally worthless after havingbeen subjected to 
the varying atmospheric conditions governing an ordinary home. This 
is also particularly true of Asters, and all seeds for which the demand is 
very limited. The vitality of Seeds of Blue Laceflower, Lobelia, Mig¬ 
nonette, and Schizanthus seem to vary a great deal from year to year. 
Seeds of such vegetables as Beets, Lettuce, all members of the Cab¬ 
bage tribe, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, and all other “vining” crops may 
be safely used the second year assuming, of course, that the original 
purchases were in fresh bulk or trade packets. But even among these, 
the gardener is apt to encounter “snags.” Large, light-colored Beet 
seeds, for instance, are never of as good germination as the little brown 
shrivelled ones. The difference lies in the curing of the seeds, the light- 
colored seeds having been harvested before they were dead ripe. 
Among flower seeds all coarse-seeded kinds will give satisfactory 
germination the second year. But again, a great deal depends upon 
climatic conditions when the seeds were harvested. Lor this reason 
all California flower seeds (and 75 per cent, of all annual flowers offered 
by our seed-houses now come from there) are far superior in vitality to 
those imported from Europe. 
Then again a great deal depends upon where your surplus was kept 
during the winter months. Shelves in the kitchen or cellar are no 
places for live seeds. The attic or garage will offer far more congenial 
surroundings. Seeds bought in bulk (ounces or pounds) are apt to be 
of more recent harvest than those contained in packets. This applies 
particularly to packets bought at hardware and grocery stores to which 
no experienced gardener goes as trustworthy sources of seeds. Buy your 
seeds from a seedsman! 
