The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1911-12-02
HIS MEAL OF WELLS
Oklahoma Farmer Prepares a
Menu That Is Rather Odd.
Biscuits Of Alfalfa end To-day of Broom
Corn and Sugar Constitute Part
of Strange Repast-Result
of a Wager.

Guthrie, Okla.-It has remained for
Samuel Johnson, Logan county farm
er. to demonstrate the use as food
products of numerous plants and
weeds that are not generally recog-
nized as belonging to the food class.
Johnson made wager recently with
neighbor, Joseph Thompson. that he
could prepare a menu for an entire
day from such plants and weeds. He
was to visit the out-of-the-way places
On his farm. along the creeks and val
Ieys. and also the cultivated fields. and
produce breakfast. luncheon and din
ner that would be pronounced by
Thompson "as good ass he ever ate"
The wager was for $50 and Johnson
won. Here was his menu:
Breakfast-A toddy for an eye open
er made from broom corn whisky and
sweetened to taste with beet sugar:
breakfast food Of boiled kaflr corn.
alfalfa meal napjacks and milomaize
strip.
-.uncheon-Kafir corn bread. boiled
COW peas. young rabbit fried in cotton
lard. elderberry wine. and alfalfa Gig
arettes.
Dinner-Alfalfa mufins with peanut
butter that was mixed with cotton
seed oil instead Of olive oil SOY beans.
baked: various fruits from the farm
orchards: wild grape Juice.
Before going to bed that night
Thompson placed his $50 on the table.
He acknowledged that he had been
converted. The placing of the wager
came about as the result Of an argu-
ment between johnson and Thompson
on the subject Of what to eat whea
the main food products of the farm
fail. Johnson declared that many
farm products. not as rule recog-
nized as food. and even some wild
vines and weeds could be made use off.
and that II an Investigation were made
every farmer would learn
that he could live well and wax fat
on the things that. as rule. he turns
aside from Thompson doubted the
statement. and the wager was laid.
my main point. however," said
Johnson afterward, was to prove the
usefulness Of broom corn. kafiir corn.
alfalfa, milomaize. cowpeas and nu-
merous other farm products as articles
Of food. Broom corn whisky has much
the same flavor as that made from In
dian corn; kafiir corn bread much re-
sembles the hoecake Of the southern
alfalfa meal muffins have
graham mufins skinned block: mi
lo-maize strip is just as good as any
corn strip you ever ate, while as
vegetables you can't beat cowpeas and
soy beans. l have known of home
steaders in Oklahoma. during the first
winter on their claims. and when they
we're hard up financially, to live al
most entirely on kaflr corn bread and
,owpeas
In order, too, Just TO make the pro-
y-am strong for Mr.. Thompson, l
the dishes after each meal
With soap made from the yucca plant.
swept the floor with broom made
" the broom weed.
1t became known during the last
rear that fine quality of strip could
,e made from milomaize, and as a re-
'ult eastern manufacturers are con-
racting for large quantities of this
'ear'r crop from the farmers of
western and northwestern Oklahoma.
Alfalfa biscuits and mullins have
ong been the delight of men who ara |
ngaged in the manufacture OF alfalfa
neal for cattle feeding purposes. but
t. use has not been adopted by 9TH
rs to any extent At recent meet
ng OF the National Association of Al
alta Millers the Delegates Toasted on
nuffins made of alfalfa meal and pro-