The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1935-05-24

territory. ana 80 Win everything.
There must be expense either In the
gathering, the transportation or the
preparation. Otherwise, why be rich?
The early Greeks and the early Ro-
mans were a fairly healthy people.
They used many herbs. Then they
waxed rich and herbs became too or
binary. So scurvy developed among
them, not among the rich who got
their fruit juices, but among the slaves
In their households, who were fed only
upon the scraps.
And a curious thing happened.
When the slaves got the loathsome
scurvy, their employers drove them
out of their houses, and as there was
no other place to go, they took refuge
in the mountains or the forests There
they had to live upon whatever they
could find-wild plants, roots, herbs,
fruits, with an occasional morsel Of
snake, scorpion, toad or worm for
flavoring.
The green things Of course cured the
scurvy, but, as they didn't know that,
when they returned to the city, they
gave the credit to the snakes and the
scorpions and the toads.
Quacks and charlatans took up these
cures, and so through the centuries
there have been some weird broths
and stews recommended for the cure
Of scurvy.
Now, though, there is hardly per-
son who hasn't heard that vegetables
and fruits are very essential If we are
to have healthy, balanced diet.
There is no millionaire-if any mil
lionaires are left-who Is so rich that
he can get along without the common
vegetables on his table. He can't ban
ish the cabbage family and not regret
it, and carrots and spinach and dande-
lions come on his table, too. He has
learned that if you want to be healthy,
you have to obey the rules of health,
and one of those rules is-green vege-
tables, and the more common the vege-
table the better.
Indeed, the strange fact is that now
the people in this country who use the
fewest vegetables are the farmers
who make their living from the soil.
This indictment does not hold true of
course for all farmers. There are
many farmers who live most sensibly
and intelligently. They set the best
table imaginable. But to each of these
there are hundreds whose meals day
after day consist of bread and cereals,
meat, potatoes, beans, jams, pie and
cake and coffee. They can go weeks
on end without having fresh fruit or
a single vegetable, and unless there is
a small child in the house, they send
all the milk to the dairy.
The automobile Is undoubtedly part
ly responsible for this limited menu.
In the old days every farmer, no mat
ter what his major crop was, planted
a kitchen garden. Or maybe his wife
did 1t. And from that garden went
bushels of carrots, turnips, rutabagas,
onions, beets and cabbage into root
cellars or deep trenches to give va
riety and taste to the winter meals.
There were barrels of apples. Celery
was laid out to blanch. In the fall
the kitchen was redolent with the
fragrance of pickles preserved in Vine
gar and spices.
Now what has happened? Since the
advent of the automobile. no one
wants to stay home to tend the garden
or to put up fruit. The women argue,
'The Gamers do such good job Of
canning, why should we bother?" And
the men say, Modern refrigeration
cars have made 1t possible to ship
green vegetables from California or
Texas or Florida all winter now, and
they sell very cheaply."
This is all good logic and it would
be fine if it were carried through. But
the trouble is the money crop on the
farm doesn't always bring in money,
and then there isn't the cash to buy
these foods from the grocer, for after
all the grocer does charge more than
if you raised them yourself. And then
gasoline costs money.
1 am not arguing against automo-
biles. The automobile has made the
farmer a citizen of the world and has
been an Unreasonable boon to the
farmers wife who often was prac.
tically imprisoned on the farm. But
1t is not wholly blessing If 1t Is the
cause of the farmers limiting his food
until he becomes a leather-skinned;
prematirely old individual, who is al
ways tired and listless, with dry, dead
hair and brittle finger nails. These
are infallible signs of nutrition de-
ficiency.
1t would seem logical that farmers
and village people who may have
clean air just by stepping outside their
doors, should be the nations healthiest
people. But it is the city people that
have this distinction. And the reason
is chiefy-an abundance Of green
vegetables in the diet.
e. western Nswspapsr Onion