i  jo  New  Vegetable  Foods  and  Fruits.    {AmMaJr°cuhr'  S™' 
Neither  is  it  the  purpose  to  consider  foods  which  might  be  classed 
as  freaks  or  which  can  be  eaten  only  by  certain  peoples,  such  as 
the  edible  birds'  nests  of  the  orientals.  The  foods  herein  described 
have  either  been  observed  or  purchased  in  the  Philadelphia  or  New 
York  markets  or  sent  out  by  the  United  States  Department  of  Agri- 
culture, Bureau  of  Plant  Industry,  in  the  hope  that  interest  in  them 
might  be  developed  and  their  use  encouraged. 
Accounts  of  many  of  these  are  scattered  individually  through 
popular  and  scientific  literature  within  the  past  ten  years,  but  I  have 
seen  no  comprehensive  survey  of  the  entire  list  at  any  time.  Per- 
sonal trials  have  been  made  of  a  number  of  them,  such  as  the  avo- 
cado, artichoke,  celeriac,  chayote,  dasheen,  Chinese  cabbage,  etc. 
The  most  potent  influence  in  the  breaking  down  of  the  sharply 
defined  seasons,  which  formerly  ruled  the  market  for  perishable 
foods,  is  the  modern  refrigerator  car,  which,  with  the  increased 
speed  of  railroad  transportation,  brings  sections  of  the  country 
within  a  few  hours  of  each  other  which  were  formerly  days  apart. 
The  result  is  that  not  only  have  seasonal  variations  in  food  largely 
disappeared,  for  in  the  larger  cities  fresh  vegetables  and  fruits  are 
now  usually  obtainable  throughout  the  entire  year,  but  new  varieties 
and  species  are  brought  to  markets  to  which  they  were  formerly 
strange. 
Some  of  these  food  novelties  are  luxuries,  pure  and  simple,  being 
high  in  price  and  low  in  calorific  value.  Others  need  only  a  popular 
demand  to  bring  them  into  competition  with  many  other  low-priced 
staple  foods  of  high  food  value.  There  is  stretching  out  an  ever- 
widening  vista  of  agricultural  possibilities,  limited  only  by  the  flexi- 
bility of  custom  and  freedom  from  prejudice  shown  by  the  food- 
consuming  public.  That  prejudice  plays  an  important  part  has  been 
frequently  evidenced  in  the  past  when  attempts  have  been  made  to 
introduce  new  foods.  Dr.  Johnson  is  reported  to  have  expressed 
his  contempt  for  oats,  now  widely  used  as  human  food,  by  saying 
"  It  is  a  grain  fed  to  horses  in  England  and  to  people  in  Scotland." 
The  development  and  popularity  of  the  tomato  has  occurred  within 
the  last  century  and  I  have  known  individuals  who  remembered 
when  this  widely  used  fruit  was  believed  to  be  poisonous,  and  the 
plant  was  used  for  ornamental  purposes.  The  cranberry  has  come 
into  general  favor  to  the  extent  necessitating  cultivation  to  supply 
the  demand,  within  the  memory  of  the  present  generation. 
Two  of  our  greatest  staples,  the  potato  and  the  maize,  were  un- 
