The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1904-08-26
POTATOES

IN.f...,,. $500. StdnCn.... ..,.... ~. I
l,O..,,,.......Mineral water.... +
100 lOp
31j Fuel value per pound 1880
In very many American families a
considerable part Of the money spent
for food is wasted. In some cases ex-
CcSSiVe quantities of food are bought,
while in other cases the expenditure,
though ample, fails to provide AIDE
Quate nOurishment. There is OppOr-
tunity, therefore, for material i'm
prOvement of the diet to the advantage
of both health and purse. BY a wiser
selection Of food materials, based up-
on knowledge of actual values. a
more satisfactory diet could be Sc
cured, which would be better adapted
to the physical needs of the individu-
al and at the same time be more eco
nOmical.
1T appears from the figures quoted
above, potatoes contain large
amount of water-78.3 per cent. AS
potatoes are commonly eaten, a good
deal of the flesh or edible portion is
rejected with the skins. When they
are rough from defects in growth, or
from shrinking or shriveling after
keeping, the amount of flesh cut Oft in
the peeling is larger still.
SIN the table of analysis published
in the late bulletins of this depart
ment, the amount of refuse and edible
portion rejected with it is estimated
at 20 per cent of the whole, and the
edible portion is so per cent. Doubt
less in many cases the rejected por-
ton is very much larger. The loss of
actual nutriment Of the potato by the
rejection of so much of the edible pOr-
ton with the skin, is a much more
important matter from a standpoint
of nutritive economy than people gen
orally realize.
Carbohydrates (of starch) are
sources of energy and cannot serve
for the building and repairing of body
tissues. Protein is necessary for this
purpose, since it alone of the nutri-
entS contains nitrogen, the character
istie element of the body tissue. In
addition to this, protein serves as a
source of energy, and thus while the
body could not be nOurished on car
bOhydrates alone, could, theoretically
on protein, since that nutrient com
bines the two functions of food. This
deficiency in protein in the potato is
another which people do not appreci-
ate; it helps to explain why large
numbers of the country population of
Ireland and Germany, whose food
consists chiefly of potatoes, are so
poorly fed.
Among the cereals and grains rice
unquestiOnably stands first in impor-
lance in regard to the number of per-
sons who consume it, the area devoted
to its cultivation, and the amount an
nually produced thereon in the whole
world. 1t has been stated that rice
forms the principal, and in some
cases almost the only, food of from
One-third to One-half of the human
race, in parts of both Temperate
zones, wherever there is an abundant
supply of water.
"Rice contains about 70 per cent
water. Although the protein of rice
is much higher than that of potatoes
(being on an average s per cent? the
carbohydrates make up the bulk of
nutrient material, and like potatoes,
rice is classed as a carbohydrate
food. Potatoes as purchased consists
of one-ffth and rice seven-eighths of
nutritive material. Considering the
two articles as ordinarily purchased
four and one-half pounds of raw po-
tatoes and one pound of rice contain
nearly equal weight of each class of
nutrients and have about the same nu-
tritive value.
"Tables show rice to be fully as d.
gestive as wheat flour or Indian meal
and more so than bread or potatoes.
"Rice is used for food IN all forms,