58 
vegetables that are eaten rav/. Compost is the 
best form in which various substances can be 
brought back to the land. Tt is no mean work 
to make a good compost heap. It requires strong - 
muscle and back, add the carting and carrying 
away of the material from the yard to the field 
is a time consuming work. As you realize, not 
all people can do this work. Those doing of- 
fice and factory work will find out that they 
cannot combine the two. 
As regards grov/ing vegetables in midsummer; 
well, I suggest for the Southern States some of 
the follov/ing: Dolichos sesquipedalis for its 
long pods; Lagenaria vulgaris var. clavata , for 
its tender young gourds, Benincasia cerif era for 
its gourds; Ipomaea aquat ica on low lands, for its 
greens, like spinach; Amaranthus blitum and A. 
tricolor for their greens, like spinach. New 
Zealand spinach ( Tetragonia. expansa ) , the ice- 
plant ( Mesembryanthemum crystalinum ) for sea- 
shore gardens, as spinach; Portulaca oleracea , on 
alkaline lands, as spinach. Jack beans, Canavallia 
ensiformis , for its tender young string beans. Pods 
of both the cowpea and the yard-long bean can be 
dried and kept for winter use. Sv/eet potatoes can 
be sliced, frozen hard,' then dried in the sun and 
kept for a long time (the Chinese in Shantung do 
so when their sweet potatoes have produced an abund- 
ant crop). Please call these few items to the at- 
tention of Mr. Henderson, who, as you state, is 
working on these problems. 
I am perfectly amazed at your statement that 
the De-oartment was forbidden to investigate the 
opium-poppy industry. Who gave that order? I do 
hope some wholesale drxig firm profited by such an 
assinine order,' 
Drying of vegetables, fruits, meats, etc, 
for home uses is no small thing. In cities it 
really can not be done; in suburbs and the 
country it will go up to a degree, but, in the 
Y/estern United States, far better than in the 
humid East. In moist climates salting and can- 
ning for vegetables and salting and smoking for 
meats are the methods that v/ill give better re- 
sults than drying or evaporation. In Amsterdam, 
my mother found out that evaporated vegetables for 
soups, etc., v/ere too dear to be used as an every- 
day affair; celery, sorrel, carrots, cabbage, 
parsley, all these fresh winter vegetables gave 
more flavor and were far cheaper. 
December 31, I917. 
