El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-01-29
PSSHOV
GERMAN DIET.
French Analysis of Food
Dropped From Zeppelin
Tells German Poverty.
BY FREDERICK J. HASKIN.

completely the bef1IEerentS OF Europe
are separated from each other by tn,
fighting lines is shown by the eager
ness with which French scientists ex-
amined bits OF food in a Zeppelin
which fell on French soil and was cap
tured by a hunter. These bits Of food
were evidence as to how the enemy
was living; they were analyzed as
carefully as though they had been
fragments from another planet.
The French scientists found TO their
great surprise that the rye bread,
which constituted the basis Of the "a
ton used in the Zeppelin. contained
about 10 percent OF rice flour. How
could Germany obtain rice? In one
way-from Java by way Of Holland.
Here was one important fact deduced
from the scraps OF food in the fallen
airship.
Suggestive of Poverty.
The rest Of the ration was suggest
i've Of Germany's poverty in food
| stuffs. It Is we'll known that avia-
tors require a diet rich in fats and SUI
gars so that they may withstand the
J cold OF higher attitudes These Yep
pelin men were provided with sand
I wicheS. There were two kinds, evil
IDENTIFY intended for officers and men
respectively. The officers had the
I better bread. made with a percenta ge
Of rice flour. and their sandwiches
were made OF a very poor quality OF
| cheese and of honey from which the
saccharose- the most valuable food
element-had been extracted.
These analyses were published in
rr.l1 p
Agriculture, which are regularly re-
ceiyed by our own department of aEri-
culture, and which throw much light
upon conditions in France, and some
upon conditions in Germany. One OF
them, for example, contains an &C
count OF French experience in the use
OF prisoners Of war as farm laborers,
which IS Of special interest inasmuch
as the ACCESSIBILITY of sending German
prisoners over here in returning yes
sells Tor the same purpose has been Sc
riously considered
Germans Poor Farm Workers.
French agriculturists are not very
encouraging. The first drawback is I
that very few of the prisoners have
had any experience in farming. Most
Of the good farmers have been kept
at home. A second difficulty lies in /
the fact that the prisoner is most IN /
willing to work He can sometimes (
hE -40E4 ~ " VI X " extra LaLlQu5 u D
1ood; but generally he succeeds in /
making himself pretty nearly useless I
\ good deal OF trouble was caused by !
attempts to apDOrtion the men among I
farmers who were required to keep /
them in their homes. This practice /!
resulted IN SO much immortality and /
trouble IS was stopped It is inter 4
esting 10 note that in the north OF /
France along the German border,
where the French and Germans are
people Of about the same racial type.
the use Of prisoners as laborers was
something Of a success, while at
tempts to introduce the prisoners in
the Latin south OF France were fall
ures- The people in some cases re-
jected them with violence The con-
clusion Of the French scientists is that
prisoners Of war may be used with
some success in cultivating large
areas under strict military supervis-
ion Thus some OF our unused west
ern lands perhaps offer the best op-
portunity that there IS for the sue
cessful use OF this labor.
Rabbits Supply Meat.
It appears that in both Germany
and France great attention is being
given to the raising of rabbits and the
keeping OF bees They have also given
much attention to the development OF
small home gardens, but these pro-
1uce for the most part only fresh
vegetables, which contain little nour-
Ra bbitss on the other hand
provide fresh meat of very good
quality, and may be fed on all sorts
OF weeds and plants that could not
otherwise be utilized, while bees pro-
vide sugar, and extract II from plants
without impairing their food value.
Meat and sugar are what all the world
needs Our own department of agri-
culture has been encouraging the
keeping OF bees. and scientists OF the
biological survey have pointed out the
possibilities of experimenting the
meat supply by raising rabbits. SO
TAR. neither Of these movements seems
to have taken hold in this country. If
bee and rabbit keeping could be pro-
noted as successfully as was the
home garden idea last summer, the
food shortage could be greatly ale {
Waited.
Another interesting experiment re-
ported TO the academy was in the use
0f acorns for the manufacture of al
,ohoL This experiment seems to have
been unexpectedly successful. a high
percentage Of alcohol. which IS of /
course much needed in the manufac-
-ure Of munitions, having been ex- /
-racted from acorns. The work is ]
probably now being done on a COM /.
nercial scale The French scientist !
comments that only the pigs are the
osers. In this country we have enor-
nous stretches or oak 1OreSt-eSpe-
sially the dwarf oak Of the west-the
.ruit of which is not even used for !
pig food
Europeans Eat Horse Cbestnuts.
Horse chestnuts are also being used :
or human food in Europe, as are the {
nner bark Of poplar trees, the buds Z
" trees and the leaves OF rhubarb 7
'lants. It is evident that man dis :
overs the food values Of many nat /
iral products only when he is forced
" necessity to do so. The only na- c
ion which seems to have anticipated {
he necessities now upon the world is
germany. It IS known that long be- Y
ore the war she offered prizes 70 T
abroad employees for the production Y
4 honey and rabbits on the small bits S
= ground about their dwellings, while J
Ierman scientists made many expert a
nents IN the utilization of materials
nat had always gone to waste Now 4
hat the necessity is forced upon them. k
ne French scientists are showing a
themselves equally resourceful a
VI course the great question which Z,
rance faces is that OF man power. IN
pite OF all her efforts her agricul-l b
1ral production has suffered for lack "
I men to till the soil. Many Of the n
caoemy reports deal with various
hases OF this problem Thus II in
icates that the labor Of women IN the
elds is being stimulated by Offering er
rizes to farmers wives for agricul- II
lral work. There Is also a note in m
icating that. the Iabors Of prisoners
war not having proved very useful. A
rance is now turning to her colonies =
,r labor Black men from Africa r
Their haUa heen or are IN ha fn1unr4 ! =