The hatchet. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1883-19??, 1900-05-27
TH[ WORLDS FOODgJPPLY
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

The Department of Agriculture at
Washington has been carefully ana
systematically investigating the 1000
stock I'm 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 hnd.
ing out what the new or neglected
food products are their value as
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 tho
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 dtscov-
cred that the nut trees alone could at
q pinch feed a population three times
as great as the present number OF IN
habtants.
While a dozen vegetables cover the
limit of the variety on the average
table, the earth is growing hundreds
of kinds that are nutritious, dcliclouA
and easy to cultivate.
A Single wild tribe Of Western In
dams is using forty-one kinds OF veg
otables which are absolutely unknown,
even to the chef who draws a salary
as large as that of a United States
Senator.
An endless variety Of downtroddon
weeds can be converted into whole
some. succulent garden truck Even
the much maligned nettle has the lat
est qualities of a delicious eNtremeL
Fspccially 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 food staple,
An orchard of two thousand trees IN
California Yields every year over "a
GOO 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, ana
the worked-out ground is found to
lUIlINl llONl oIIlAl'AHN NtA.'N'.n'A ~
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 hlll'
sides where nothing else VIII gro" LOT
fruit orchards.
In the past the objection to nuts as
food has been that they were nara 20
digest, but with the new methods or
preparing and cooking them, they are
rendered as hcalthful as they are
palatable. even in America, where
good digestion does notinyariably wait
on appetite.
The introduction Of new foods Is
an excellent plan for both the health
and commercial prosperity OF nation.
Nearly all of what are now regarded
as Indigenous fruits and vegetables
have been imported TO MS from other
lands. OF the food plants now in use
only pumpkins and few grapes
plums and berries were originally
found on the soil.
oats. barley and rye originated in
wild forms along the Mediterranean,
The first noted species of wheat was
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.
The Orient furnished us with melons,
cucumbers and onions. Egg plant
and tomatoes were discovered in
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.
If these important features of our
daily food supply have all found their
way to us from foreign lands. 1t seems
but a question of sufficient search
throughout the world to increase the
store until all possibility of food
famine I'm 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 still
looked upon as weeds, are health-giY'
ing products and should be ranked as
a portion of the reserve food supply.
Indeed. the bureau has selected seven
teen Of the most ordinary weeds and
has issued a pamphlet eXtolling their
virtues as available, healthful foods.
In the list are found dock the mashed
marigold. mercury, black charlock,
commonly held as poisono--' chic
cory. pOkewOOd, also regarded as pois'
onous; purslane, for which the farmer
inherits his dislike and the despised
nCttle.
A wonderful reserra fund for tho
human appetite is to be found in the
vegetable diet of the klamath In
dams. a novel variety of food form
ing a menu unknown to civilization
is offered I'm the pulp Of the great yell
low water lily, which is converted in
TO a farnaceous food, in the weed
known as goosefoot, which bears a
black seed, which is ground mp for
loaycs and cake, and In the arrow
head. which I'm the fall develops a
starchy white tuber at the end Of tho
roots. not to mention the tubers that
resemble beets, turnips and carrots,
the nuts that are ground into coffee
and the flower leaves that furnish
fairy-like desserts.
The tanning of wild fruits is another
branch Of the food agents business
Mr.. Augustus Henry, wEO is authority
on Chinese fora. states that there
are at least one hundred varieties OF
fruits growing wild in the interior OF
China that. if transplanted 20 another
soft and properly cultivated, would
prove as important a food supply as
our present necessary apple ana pear
The lie Conte pear which mas reyolu
L..