The 1917 bean-crop, in response to the patriotic appeal, was 50 per
cent higher than the normal. Nearly all this increase was in the
colored beans, chiefly pintos. The Food Administration, fearing
that some of this unusual surplus might be wasted and the farmer
discouraged from producing a large output in 1918, bought up the extra
crop and distributed it for sale at the different markets.

Though soy beans and peanuts at least are exceptions, the protein
in beans and peas is not so satisfactory as a bodybuilder as that in
animal foods, so that a diet in which they are a large part should
contain also some milk or eggs or a little meat. Two cups (half a
pound) of shelled green peas or beans, or one cup with a cup of skim
milk gives as much protein as a quarter of a pound of beef. Dried
beans and peas are, of course, cheaper than the canned with their
larger amount of water. At the usual market prices as much fuel can
be bought for 5 cents spent for dried peas as for 25 cents for canned
peas.

Meat-savers do not all have to be high-protein foods, since the diet
of most of us contains considerably more protein than is necessary.
Any vegetable can be a "meat extender." The pleasant flavor of
meat can be obtained in meat stews, such as the delicious French
"pot-au-feu." Stews can easily be made with less meat and more
vegetables than usual. The meat allowance is now so very small in
France and the vegetables so scarce in the cities, that the ingenuity
of even the French woman is taxed to get a meal.

_To Save Wheat_. Potatoes to save wheat! The great potato drive to
utilize the surplus of our huge 1917 potato-crop, 100,000,000 bushels