Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 15.djvu/404

 cheapest aliments, since production and growth cost absolutely nothing, only the expenses of catching and of a short transport being incurred.

Having enunciated some general principles which it is important should first be established, I shall offer briefly an illustration or two of the manner in which they may be applied. This brings us to the second division of the subject, viz., the practical treatment of certain aliments in order to render them suitable for food. Dealing first with that of the agricultural laborer, our object is to economize his small pittance, to give him, if possible, a rather more nutritive, wholesome, and agreeable dish—he can have but one—that his means have hitherto furnished. But here there is little scope for change; already said to live chiefly on bread and cheese, with occasionally bacon, two indications only for improvement can be followed, viz., augmentation of nitrogenous matter to meet the wear and tear of the body in daily hard labor, and of fatty matter to furnish heat and force. A fair proportion of meat, one of the best means of fulfilling them, is not within his reach. First, his daily bread ought to contain all the constituents of the wheat, instead of being made of flour from which most of the mineral elements have been removed. But beans and peas are richer in nitrogen than wheat, and equal it in starch, mineral matters, and fat, the last being in very small quantity, while maize has three times their proportion of fat. Hence all of these would be useful additions to his dietary, being cheaper than wheat in the market, although, the retail demand being at present small, they may not be so in the small shops. As an illustration of the value of legumes combined with fat, it may be remembered how well the Erbswurst supported the work of the German armies during the winter of 1870–’71, an instructive lesson for us in England at the present moment. It consists of a simple pea-soup mixed with a certain proportion of bacon or lard, and dried so as to be portable, constituting in very small compass a perfect food, especially suitable for supporting muscular expenditure and exposure to cold. Better than any flesh, certainly any which could be transported with ease, the cost was not more than half that of ordinary meat. It was better also, because the form of the food is one in which it is readily accessible and easily digested; it was relished cold, or could be converted in a few minutes into good soup with boiling water. But for our laborer probably the best of the legumes is the haricot bean, red or white, the dried mature bean of the plant whose pods we eat in the early green state as "French beans." For this purpose they may be treated thus: Soak, say, a quart of the dried haricots in cold water for about twelve hours, after which place them in a saucepan, with two quarts of cold water and a little salt, on the fire; when boiling remove to the corner and simmer slowly until the beans are tender; the time required being about two to three hours. This quantity will fill a large dish, and may be