The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 8, 1902, Page 3

mer keep in ow- bec project. the the white were {1l disposed hard to length 1gs of the Earl g off the im- in spite of raised > y were ehipy New York and Kansas C . 7 the ¢ age to the crop from lack The wh the em at work of was had been serious, 2 expense had ce po protec- the venture rating that ons the industry experiment, search, de- Orange for celery- acres and them so satis- either as and is the ipper in California; y firm of which he est ship- The Smelt- out ten miles to the one of the s kind in the branch line of the fic Raflway runs to the h depot of its own, t on. The crop is rket from November as soon as it is dis- inquiries concerning tha f securing cheaper food h may be regarded as for the high-priced ism is likely to become t prices continue, not any superior merit because economical ompel its adoption. of the fact that meat tial to human life, and d, and well nour- o a flesh diet. for the use of aste, since it is ad- function of foods, n animal is concerned iderably beyond the xtend of nutritio sities social economy and in domestic economy. id that our food be t it be palatable. preser time, however, the of nutrition are pre-eminent, are presented which de- scientific and technical t going into the question of the gh prices, it will he th of this article to set forth some zeneral principles upon which the n of man depends and to suggest THE SUNDAY CALL. ol 4 D in time to crop of a careless cultivation of ing some returns, the indus- s great care and attention if it 1 the highest profi The seed comes principally from wholesale growers prepare for next celery. ed varieties med *“White Pl and “Go n The seed beds r careful prep- are sown thickly in rows or 1d of March or early are weeded each a suit- up by top and arried to at have been prepared for s There men or boys transplar one in holes m: ants they are taken after b 1in boxes g trimmed a and c them with a tapering The young T ts a plantation to the fie but 1 rows ay be bout July 1, ormed suc the operation m fully at any time during ugust. The ground in which out must be moist enough t> sh the young plants until they from the somewhat rough proce of transplantation. The plants are set out in drills four feet center and about 7 of them fail to 1 their places, though account is only small. soil which nurtures the so an abundant crop of ep ither or the use of imple- devised for the purpose. the task of weeding must also nec- to apart from center 12,000 to the grow others the loss But the ac on rich down, which mu nd work s specially In many case be performed repeatedly. essary to keep the soil aw from the stalks of growing celery. This is done by a machine named “a crowder,” which, be- ing driven down the field, draws the earth away from the celery stalks to form a ridge between the rows. This process sometimes to be repeated once or even twice before.the celery is ready to be “banked.” As the celery grows the earth is shifted back from the ridge toward the stalks, but is not pressed against them, the object being simply to afford shelter and shade to the growing plant. About the middle of November the ridge of soil is divided down the middle by a sort of some of the ways in which a cheaper substance than meat may be made to serve the double purpose of nutrition and palatability. 1 think the statement may without question that, as a rule, we eat too much, not only of meat, but of all forms of food. The question of limiting the diet, however, is one that deserves more than a passing notice, and is based primarily not on the principles of econ- y, but on the requirements of hy- be accepted undernutrition and overnutrition act unfavorably on the animal economy. causing, on the one hand, a deposit of un- necessary fat, and on the other interfer- ence with the vital processes, by reason of diminished or insuflicient materials for renewing the waste of the body. Comparativ atomy has shown _that man is an omnivorous animal and, there- fore, there can be no question of the right and propriety of flesh eating. In addition to this, the taste of well-prepared meats® is most delightful, and man in his normal state has ng for a meat diet, or at least one in which meat figures to a con- siderable extent. This craving may be satisfied In some degree without indulg- ing too freely in the expensive luxury of meat eating at the present prices, Very few people realize what they buy when ordinary meats are purchased. In the first place, almost every piece of meat purchased in the market has a large quan- tity of refuse, viz.: the bones, gristle, ten- dons and other parts unsuitable for the table. ot} HORSED WEARING WOOTDEN SLowd AT WORK I TRE TEAT- LANDY. CRATING THE" CeLERY. double-winged piow and is moved in equal parts near to the rows of celery, where it remains until the time for “banking’” ar- rives. This is just the opposite process to “crowding.” The “banking” = machine places the earth firmly against the stalks on both sides, packing it solidly as a pro- tection against frosts or parching winds. WRA It also bleaches the stalks and renders them crisp. The time required by crops to reach ma- turity varies somewhat, but celery set out on July 1 should be ready, if all goes well, for the Thanksgiving day market. It keeps coming on from that date until the end of March. During the season of TC EAT TF MEAT 1IN THE CELERY | FIELDS 1900 2nd 1901 the demand for celery was so great that much of it was sold without having been “‘banked” at all. But as the season advances it becomes necessary to “bagk” it, for the frost, while it does not often visit the peatlands, is severe enough to render the celery unfit for market un- less it is protected by a shield of soil. After the “banker” has done its work the grower feels safe, for the frost is rarely 80 sharp as to hurt “banked’’ celery. There remains but one process to be described, but this is the most interest- ing and important. All over the celery- raisicg reglon the harvest time is one of ‘bustle. Every available man, woman and child in the district is engaged in gathering in the crop. The roots of the celery are so tenacious that to pull them up would bruise the stalks. They are, therefore, cut off by a contrivance mcunted .on wheels and pulled down the rows by a pair of horses wearing big wooden shoes, eight inches wide, ten long and one and a half thick, to keep them from getting bogged in the soft peatlands. The “cutter” has a knife fitted to a bar which may be raised or lowered. The knife is set at right angles to the rows of celery and cuts the plants at g desired point below the surface of the soil. After the cutter has got a start of a dozen rows or so the “trim- mers" follow, and with butchers’ knives trim off the butts of the bunches and remove all superfluous or damaged stalks and leaves. 15 DEAR. BS H. W. Wilgy, Chief of the RBurcal of Chemistry, Department of RGriculilre. These, of course, are put In at standard rates, and the result {s that the actual meat which is fit for consumption, for which say 20 cents a pound s paid in the market, is worth 25 or 30 cents a pound be- fore it is ready for cooking. A glance at the table expressing the percentage of refuse in animal foods Is most interesting. In the case of the trimmings of the loin, as high as 57 per cent has been found to be refuse, and the percentage in any kind of mieats rarely falls below 10. If we should place the average percentage of the refuse in beef of all kinds, as pur- chased in the market, at 25, it would prob- ably be below rathar than above the true figure. Then, after the refuse is cut away, the purchaser buys an immense quantity of water. In some parts of beef, and beef may be taken as a type of all meats in general, the percentage of water rises above 70. In a sample of meat which was prepared for canning purposes, under the super- vision of an agent of the Bureau of Chem- istry, in the Department of Agriculture, it was. found that after removing the bones and other refuse portions and pass- ing 36 pounds of the meat thus prepared through a sausage cutter a sample of the average meat secured contained T71.17 per cent of water. The average percentage of water in meats, of course, 1s not so high; but after losing 25 per cent of the meat in refuse, the purchaser can safely count upon hav- ing 50 per cent of the rest of the mcat consist of water. So, after all, in pur- chasing meats in general In the open market, only about 25 per cent of the total weight received can be regarded as of nutritive value. At the early breakfasts which Ameri- cans are wont to indulge in, that is a hearty meal before going to their daily work, the omission of meat is to be earnestly advised. Many of the ordinary breakfast foods are to be preferred, especially catmeal with sugar and cream, and this, together with a couple of eggs, a few slices of toast and a cup of coftee. makes a breakfast which is entirely suf. ficient for the man’ of sedentary employ- ment, and with a little addition of mate- rials of the same kind quite enough for a laboring man. In so far as actual nourishment is con- cerned, the very cheapest and best that can be secured is presented by the cereals, viz.: Indian corn, wheat, oats, rye, rice, etc. These bodies contain all the nourish- ment necessary to supply the waste of the body and the energy and heat neces- sary to all animal functions and hard labor, in a form well suited to digestion and capable not only of maintaining the body in a perfect condition, but also of furnishing the energy necessary to the hardest kind of manual labor. The waste material in cereals is very small, and as comvared with that in meats, there is practically none at all. In fact, the ordinary wastes, such as the bran and germ, are among the most nutritive components of the cereals, and both health and economy would be con- served, as a rule, by their consumption instead oi rejecting them as in the oréi- nary processes of milling. The ordinary cereals of commerce con- + B e e e e S e R S tain only about 10 per cent of waste and this is an exceedingly small proportion as compared with the percentage in meats. If meats should’ be used as suggested above, more for condimental purposes, as in the making of soups, stews, etc., and not more than once a day as one of the staple articles of the tabie, it would be better, in my opinion, for the health and strength of the consumer, and espe- cially would it be a saving in the matter of household expenses. It is well known that men who are nourished very extensively on cereals are capable of the hardest and most enduring manual labor. Meats are quickly digest- ed, furnish an abundance of energy soon after’ consumiption, but are not retained in the digestive organism long enough to sustain permanent muscular exertion. On the other hand, cereal foods are more slowly digested, furnish the energy necessary to digestion and the vital func- tions in a more uniform manner and thus are better suited to sustain hard manual labor for a long period of time. Cereals contain as their most abundant constituent an element of food which is gracllcally absent in meats, viz.; carbo- ydrates, of which starch and sugar are types. Starch and sugar alone are not suflicient to give permanent nourishment to the body, since they fail to contain the elements necessary to the nourishment. especially to the muscular tissues of the body. In cereals, howeéver, the starch is com- bined with an abundant supply of nitro- genous materials, of which the gluten of ‘wheat flour is a type. It so happens that the cereals contain all the elements neces- If it is intended to ship the celery m up in bunches of plants and loaded on the cars. first tier is built another “deck.™ the rough, it is tied and on this a third. Or ths celery is packed in crates, each.of which holds from six dozen to eight dozen bunches. A railroa carries about 130 crates or pearly ‘1200 dozen bunches If the celery fs “decked” a greater quantity can be packed into a ear thar t is crated, and the cost of the crates is saved by the shipper. Crates cost thirty cents each, a are sent from Arizona or Northerm California, being put together at the pucking-houses. Some shippers send the celery away In refrigerator cars, as, un- less this is done, the ' celery is apt to reach its destination in a damaged condi- tion. The ice for a car costs from forty to eighty dollars according to the dis- tance of the market. The celery that im shipped uncrated’ is loaded in “‘decked™ cars, and, on arriving at Kansas City the lumber used in ‘“‘decking™ is cut up to make crates in which the celery is for- warded from that city.- In 190 the num- ber of carloads sent to the East was 756, and in 191 about a thousand cars were needed to carry the crop. In 1901 about 2400 acres were planted to celery, but ow= ing to loss from foul seed and damage from an overflow only about 1600 or 1700 acres were harvested. At first the celery crop was chiefly dis- posed of by commission men, but in the last two or three years buyers have con- tracted for the crop at the beéginning of the season, a plan which enables the grower to know his position more satis- factorily. The cost of raising a crop from the beginning to the completion of the harvesting varies considerably according to circumstances, estimates varying from $25 to $70 per acre, Including the rent of the ground $50 per acre is considered a fair average cost, and, with celery at fifteen cents per dozen bunches the ‘crop realizes about $I0 per acre. There have been instances of a profit of $250 per acre being obtained and several growers esti- mate their average net profits at $125 to $130 per aere. sary to the nutrition of the body, having in themselves the types of food which are represented by the fats, the nitrogenous or protein bodies and the carbo-hydrates. In addition to these, they contain those mineral elements of which the bony strue- ture of the body is composed, viz.: lime and phosphoric acid. If, therefore, man were confined to a single article of diet, thers is nothing which would be so suitable for his use as the cereals. Starch and sugar are pri- marily the foods which furnish animal heat and energy and hence should be used in great abundance by those who are en- gaged in manual labor. The workingmen of our country, espe- cially, should consider this point and ae- custom themselves more and more to the use of cereals in their foods. When prop- erly prepared and properly served, they are palatable as well as nutritious, and their judicious use in this way would tend to diminish the craving for flesh, which, however, it is not advisable to exclude entirely from the diet. By persons whose habits of life are sedentary, requiring but little physical exertion, starch and sugar should be eat- en more sparingly, since if used for sup- plying energy for muscular exertion, they are largely converted into fat, thus prow ducing a condition of stoutness which is looked forward to with fear by all who hope to retain undiminished their bodily powers. In other words, the well-to-do personm, as a rule, whcse habits are sedentary, can eat meat with less danger of acquiring that excess of adipose to which reference has just been made.