Evening journal., 1900-03-15
IHE NORIDSfOOD SUPPLY
Nut Products VIII Feed Three
Times the Worlds People.
NUT CULTURE IS URGED.
Then There Are Many Weeds and
Wild Fruits That Can Be Used at
a Pineh-Where We Get Our Pres
ent Food Supply.

NhA WV OHFP'ls
The Department OF Agriculture at
Washington has been carefully and
systematically investigating the food
stock in trade Of nearly every coun-
try on the globe.
Agents who are food students have
been sent to China. Peru, Persia, Mex
leo everywhere to the remotest ends
OF the earth for the purpose OF find
ing out what the new or neglected
food products are, their value as a
nutritious diet. and the extent to
which they can be used to lengthen
the menu OF the civilized cook.
Some very Interesting and startling
facts are being handed in through the
reports that cover the food question
from New England to the Philippines,
from Mexico to the heart Of the Mon
golian empire. II has been discov-
cred that the nut trees alone could at
pinch feed a population three times
as great as the present number Of in
habitants,
While a dozen vegetables cover the
limit OF the variety on the average
table. the earth is growing hundreds
OF kinds that are nutritious. delicious
and easy to cultivate.
A Single wild tribe OF Western In
dans is using forty-one kinds Of veg
etables which are absolutely unknown,
even to the chef who draws q salary
as large as that Of a United States
Senator.
An endless variety of downtrodden
weeds can be converted into whole
some, succulent garden truck Even
the much mallgned nettle has the lat
est qualities OF q delicious extremet.
Especially interesting are the facts
furnished by the nut specialists.
There Is no product that requires so
( little cultivation as the nut. and none
is more wholesome as a food staple.
An orchard OF two thousand trees in
| California yields every year over "a
600 pounds OF hulled nuts. Already
the commercial mind has seized upon
the enormous profits TO accrue from
the sale OF various preparations OF
nuts, and at least ten large companies
manufacture nothing but nut food.
The government Is making a special
point of recommending nut culture.
In New England the abandoned farms
are being planted with nut trees, and
the worked-out ground is found TO
furnish nourishment enough to cause
the walnut butternut and chestnut to
flourish abundantly. Farms in nearly
every Northwestern state are plant
ing nut trees along with their peaches
and pears, and are utilizing the hill
sides where nothing else will grow for
fruit orchards.
In the past the objection to nuts as
food has been that they were hard to
digest. but with the new methods of
, preparing and cooking them. they are
rendered as healthful as they are
palatable. even In America, where
good digestion does notinvariably wait
on appetite.
The introduction of new foods is
5 an excellent plan for both the health
and commercial prosperity Of a nation.
E Nearly an OF what are now regarded
4 as indigenous fruits and vegetables
} have been imported TO MS from other
5 lands. OF the food plants now In use
: only pumpkins and a few grapes,
plums and berries were originally
5 found on the soil.
e Oats. barley and rye originated in
y wild forms along the Mediterranean.
The first noted species of wheat was
Z brought from Persia. The common
garden bean traces its ancestry back
of the landing OF the Pilgrims to an
early aboriginal state in the Andes.
a The Orient furnished us with melons,
: cucumbers and onions Egg plant
: and tomatoes we're discovered in
b Peru. Ounces. pears. currants and
=, large white grapes in Europe. While
= the most common OF our vegetables,
celery. lettuce, cabbage and spinach,
were transplanted from the shores OF
the Mediterranean.
II these important features Of our
: daily food supply have all found their
|. way to us from foreign lands, II seems
but a question of sufficient search
throughout the world to increase the
store until all possibility of food
famine In future ages is rendered IN
conceivable.
One point that is being strongly
brought out by the government Is that
many things once considered wild and
poisonous, and many that are stli
looked upon as weeds, are health-giv
ing products and should be ranked AZ
a portion Of the reserve food supply
Indeed. the bureau has selected seven
teen of the most ordinary weeds anC
has issued a pamphlet extOlling theil
virtues as available healthful foods
In the list are found dock the mashed
marigold. mercury, black chariock
commonly held as poisonous; chic
cory, pOkewood. also regarded as pois
onous: purslane. for which the farme
inherits his dislike and the despise'
nettle.
A wonderful reserve fund for tn
human appetite Is to be found in tn
vegetable diet of the Klamath In
n. dians. A novel variety of food form
ing a menu unknown to civilization
is offered in the pulp Of the great ye
{? low water lily, which is converted II
to a farinaceous food in the wee
known as goosefoot. which bears
black seed. which is ground up 70
q loaves and cake. and in the arrow
"a head. which in the fall develops
Il, starchy white tuber at the end OF tn
roots, not to mention the tubers tina
resemble beets. turnips and carrots
,o the nuts that are ground into "conee
as and the flower leaves that furnis
N fairy-like desserts.
" The tanning of wild fruits is anothe
branch of the food agents business
Mr.. Augustus Henry, who is authorit
lt, on Chinese fora. states that ther
are at least one hundred varieties {
a fruits growing wild in the interior {
X China that AZ transplanted to anOthe