The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-04-08

within the covered vessel only to about the
boiling point, and while the weasel may not
be steam-tight, lest it burst, yet it may be
sufficiently tight to retain the aromatic
oils. which should o be carried off, thus
assuring the full flavor, whatever it may be.
Ono lady, who had thus cooked them in
the oven, Informed me that she had then
for the first time tasted many kinds of
vegetables which she had been eating all
her life" In the riee-fed nations, vers largo
Quantities OF leguminous plants of the pea
and bean order are consumed with the rios;
they furnish nitrogen, in which rice ia de-
ficiant. Fall nutrition and strength could
not be attained on q diet consisting wholly
of starch. :
The Chinese mo only produce but con-
sumo large quantities Of beans, and bean
oil is ths principal oil Of China. The bean
meal left after the oil ID expressed is used
to feed the stock and also as u fertilizer.
The cotton. seed meal Of our own county
is also put to the same use. The Chimes
have fortified their sugar grounds with
bean meal for centuries; our sugar planters
are only just beginning to learn to use their
cotton sesd for the same purpose. The
Chinese also eat chickens, the eg0s of ducks
aud many other foods which furnish nitro
gen, using rice as we use bread and pota-
toes.
Very little attention is given in the
northern United States to dried peas and
beans except in getting up the noted New
England dainty, baked beans. Died split
peas, or whole peas, should be cooked at a
mode ate heat for a worry long time. In
the New England kitchen pea soup ia made
which possesses a. wholly different flavor
from the ordinary pea soup. Ihe soup is
being subjected to the heat of a lamp all
night; in the morning it il strained and
dealt with according to regular recipes.
The at aiming il essential in order to re-
move q considerable amount Of celluloss or
woody fiber. which is separated by the long
process of cooking; this being removed
leaves the soup in q much more nutritious
and digestible condition.
There appears to be less knowledge in
this country thar anywhere else of the right
use OF rice n this leguminous plants of
the pea and bean varieties. Rice consti-
tutes the starchy element of food among q
greater number of people than derive their
moro than three hundred varieties of rioe.
Some of them require no irrigation and
contain more nitrogen than the swamp or
Carolina rice to which We are accustomed.
There is q variety of rice glowing upon tho
Himalaya mountains which sprouts in the
spring through the snow; and there ia u
rice in Japan which natures in Il
very cold climate. / have undertaken to
procure information about the latter vari-
ETY.. by sending an Aladdin oven to the COM
missioner Of education of Japan. to be ak
changed for seed of tho mountain rice, and
for information in regard thereto.
The reason assigned by tho English COM
mission for not expecting any larger supply
of wheat from India ia that the land within
reach Of railways and waterways that can
be spared from RIGS and pulse ia so limited
that ii forbids amy further extension of
wheat cultivation. The pulses, or pea and
bean crops, occupy q larger area than the
rice. There are y very great number of
varieties OF bush-heans and peas, and Of
trailing plantz varying in the proportion of
nitrogen and in other respects. They are
cultivated in the hot lands, and in tho very
coolest parts Of India as we'll. Certain
bushy beans are grown as \ food crop with
India cotton-somstimea planted around
the field for its protection. sometimes in
alternate rows. or these varieties of bean
and pea there appears to be very little
knowledge In this country.
Much greater attention might also be
given to the consumption of cheese in this
country. 1t may take the plaos Of meat, of
which We are wnatsfnl in greater or loss
measure. Skim mill cheese properly
cooked with the addition of = little bioar-
bonate OF soda may be made into the most
nppstizinR and very diRestiblo compounds.