East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1918-09-07
PRESERVING

~ IGANTIc possibilities of the home
III canning industry in the United
States this summer, when It is sol
eagerly hoped that the production of the
vegetable gardens everywhere viii be
vastly increased over the normal output.
are set forth in bulletin issued by the
National Geographic Society from its
Washington headquarters The bulletin
Is a part of communication to the so
ciety from William Joseph Shovalter.
"One-fourth Of our rountry's diet
consists of neutrality-suspicious. of the
truck garden, and yet, next to Austria
Llama Americans are the worlds great
est meat-eaters. Our census returns
show that we produce, exclusive of po-
tatoes and sweet potatoes, vegetables to
a value of $2I6oOoOOO." states Me-
Showalter.
''The tomato takes first rank, with = .
$l4,oO0,OOO production to its credit; the
onion contributes exactly one-half as
much to the total as the tomato, while
corn makes a successful bid for third
place; watermelons get fourth place.
with a production valued at $5,OOo.0O0.i
and cantaloupes add 100000 more to
the total Green beans and green peas
are 100000 crops These figures deal
almost entirely with the production that
gets to the city market and not with the
vegetables raised for consumption On
the farm
There is probably no farmhouse IN
all the land so poor as to be without its
vegetable garden and its truck patch.
and between the dried beans, corn, peas.
etc, and the canned eucumbers, beetA to-
matoes, ketchup and what moi, the
thrifty rural housewife takes her family
into the winter with the assurance that
there viii be no dearth of vegetables
The food administration of the gov
ernment is now pleading with the won-
en- everywhere to increase their output
of canned goods so that the amount of
vegetables which ordinarily goes to
waste, may. this year as never before. be
decreased to a positively irredueibls
minimum.
Orchard fruits are produced in
America to an annual value of $l40.-
100000. We produce bushel and half
of apples per capita, a third Of bushel 4
of peaches. two quarts and half Of
strawberries. and other things in proper
ton. Grape vines and eitrous trees
yield S22,0OO,OOO worth of fruit year.
while our berry crop is valued at $29.-
100000
-It Is only little more than aNeen-
tury since the fruit jar came into use.
Before that the only way of keeping the
fruits and vegetables that are now
canned was to dry them or put them
away in sugar or salt The invention of
the modern process of canning is cred
tied to Nicholas Appert, a Frenehman.
His method was to put the food to be
preserved in glass jars. set them IN boil
ing water. and when the contents were
heated, seal the jar.
Although Napoleon gave Appert ~
900 francs for his work. he simply had
built on foundations well laid By Spal-
lanEi nearly half a century before. The,
apparatus used BY Appert in his canning
processes was very crude, but his dis
eoveries laid the foundation for one of
the most important industries Of mod
ern times, one which has proved boon
to the urban population Of the Earth.
and one which in the present emergru-
cy is being depended upon. to a large
extent 20 prevent the world from starv-
nc.