The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1902-10-02
UNCLE SAM'S ARMY RATION.
The Most Successful Compressed
Food That Has Been Put Upon
the Market.

The traditional woodsman, hunter,
or trapper, who staggered under d
hundred pounds or more of food and
impedimenta, has had his burden re-
duced very greatly in the past five
| years. Lighter rifles and shotguns,
ammunition of smaller caliber, and
| considerably less weight for modern
| rifles; thin pressed steel or aluminium
dishes, which nest compactly into one
| another so that not a nook or corner
| is wasted; packs, baskets and straps
| of minimum weight and maximum con-
venienoe, have all taken something
from the grievous load the camper
used to tote" Still more remarkable
are the changes brought about by the
condensed and compressed foods
which, under one name or another,
are for sale in all the "outing stores"
reports the New York Post.
Salt pork, cornmeal, white beans
and tea, reinforced, of course, by fish,
game and native fruits, the dietary
recommended by many a 'Pocket
Guide to Hunting and Trapping" was
| bulky and also heavy in proportion to
| its nutritive value. Canned goods until
recently took up practically as much
room as the same articles in their
| natural state, and there was little
gain in buying them, except for boat
| or canoe trips when there was plenty
of space.
Canned soups of the standard brands
were put up ready to serve without
dilution, and the only portable substi-
| tutes were the time onored "soup
cakes" of the kind used in the "Swiss
| Family Robinson" As soon as the idea
was conceived of manufacturing some
thing between these two extremes, it
was taken up by several makers. The
condensed soups of to-day are thick
and require to be mixed with several
| times their bulk of water, but they
have not been boiled down so far as to
sacrifice their flavor and delicacy.
Experiments in the way of food
tablets" have met with varied results.
| a large firm of packers once adver-
| tised compressed tabloid of meat and
various vegetables dried and closely
pressed so as to keep, in the language
of advertisements, "for years in any
climate" The trouble with this par
ticular Wand was that it did not taste
| good
The United States government in its
experiments with the army's food sup
ply has incidentally accomplished
great deal for the campers benefit
The regular emergency ration is per-
haps the most successful preparation
of its kind on the market. A square
tin can, no larger than the ordinary
pint fruit can, is supposed to contain
three meals, no hearty sepasts, how
ever, for a really hungry man. There
is a packet of tea inside the can, an
other packet of seasoning, and solid
lump of mixture of partly dried
meat with vegetables. The adaptable
ity of this ration to various purposes
is its strongest point. Mixed with wa
ter to the consistency of a thick paste
and Drowned in the pan, it becomes
hash. Trimmed with trifie less water.
it can be shaped into balls or fiat cakes
and fried as Hamburg steak. Stirred
up with larger proportion of water,
a savory stew is the result.
Several of the packing and canning
firms have put on the market recently
an assortment of fiat cans containing
all the staple meat and fish products,
practically without juice, in the cans,
and squeezed into the smallest posi-
BILE compass. The fat can is a con-
venience for packing which the makers
seemed to be slow in approaching.
At the opposite extreme from the
pork and beans are the malted-milk
tablets and similar preparations which
supply nutriment in its least compass,
but do not pretend to take the place of
theregular diet for healthy persons do
ing active work. Druggists testify to
the extensive use of these in place of
MONDAY luncheon by business men of
poor digestion and nervous tempera-
ment. but they are not to be consid-
cred in supplying the woodsman's
pack