The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1918-06-07
ROW DRYING WILL CUT
HIGH COST OF LIVING

The installation. of dehydrating
machine at the War Food Bureau
shows that Baltimore is as wide
awake as other great American cities
to the need for keeping UP the food
supply by the prevention of waste.
For the next three years at least one
half of our Allies food must cross
the iocean-whether peace comes be-
fore then or not. Production has
reached almost the highest point pos
sible with the labor available. There
is one alternative, to save, to prevent
waste. A nationwide educational
campaign is on to rescue millions OF
pounds of vegetables from rotting, and
upon its success depends to a large
extent whether on not the United
States shall feel the pinch OF hunger
before the world RECEIVERS from its
debauch of bloodshed.
While the Sammy battles with the
myrmidnns of destruction the Ameri-
can housewife must combat the agents
OF decay. Dehydration is the weapon.
The word IL Greek-but the process
is SO simple that its meaning does
not need to be Greek to any intelli-
gent woman "Dehydration" means
nothing more than drying" or get
ting cut the water It Is not a new
art: ancient Egyptians and African
savages practiced it, But 1t Is an
art which we have fOolishly allowed
to fall into dfsuse, and have had to
pay the penalty of eating tough, old
carrots in the winter-time when lit
tie foresight would have given us them
young and tender.
IAN you need Is common sense, v
declares one Maryland woman who
won prizes two years running with
the same dried string beans. "Put the
vegetables. properly sliced, few feet
above your stove on wire tray and
leave them there till they are thor
oughiy dried. l then keep mine in a
muslin bag till I want to use them
perhaps months afterward. The only
advice offer is to see that they are
really dried. Otherwise, the boil wee
vii and such-like insects may get busy
and spoil them"
In Germany there are over two thou
sand community drier in use, most of
them built during the war. They
saved the Hun from famine. Gradual
ly, the United States is awakening
to the merits Of an art which saves
storage, saves transportation, and,
above all, saves food. The Baltimore
plant is one of many recently erected.
1t can be help to all and Godsend
to people who live in fats.
The New York dehydrator cost ST.
500, including the preparatory machin-
cry for cutting and peeling. It will
dry one thousand pounds of fresh ma
terial day at a cost, including wages,
of one cent pound. As a general
rule, drying will shrink vegetables
five--sixths of their volume without at
all altering the cellular structure. A
few hours soaking restores the orig
inal favor, color, form and fragrance.
The most popular container is a dou'
ble-lined paper bag, waxed inside.
Canning the fresh produce would cost
about twenty-five times as much for
containers, while bottling would cost
fifty times as much. Cold storage,
another means of keeping these foods,
will be increasingly costly, as military
needs are apt to cause shortage in
the supply Of that commodity to
civilians.
Dehydration is not fad; 1t is war
need. Even in time Of peace it's use
is the acme of common sense, for it
will keep the produce of the farmer
from rotting away. Thus, 1t offers the
one visible solution to the high cost of
living. 1t insures the producers a
market for. their crops. 1t keeps the
consumers from being saddled with
the cost of shipping and storing mil
! lions of gallons Of water which they
can Just as we'll draw from the kitchen
tap few hours before the cook wishes
70 use the vegetables. yes. and the
eggs and the milk which she had the
prudence to buy when they were plen-
tfful and. therefore, cheap
Whoever can attend the daily DEM
onstrations I'm the Lexington Building,
Baltimore. will save many dollars by
the expenditure Of few inmates OF
time AS substitute, the literature
is recommended which is given out
there or in Bulletins S41 and 916. L.
sued by the Department OF Agricul-
ture, Washington.
CABBAGE IN CASSEROLE.