Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Wednesday 25 August 1915, page 12


WOMEN TO WOMEN.

WAR TIME ECONOMIES.

THE USE OF VEGETABLES.

By VESTA.

As week succeeds week, bringing no new of decided victories for our arms, it becomes more and more clearly evident that we must reconcile ourselves to the prospect of a long war, demanding ever-increasing sacrifices on our part to keep up the supply of men and munitions. We have to make ourselves realise that the country depends upon us and our savings for the wherewithal to carry on and play the part that honour and loyalty demand of us in this struggle. We have all been economising for the last twelve months; but it has been compulsory,' not voluntary, economy. The high prices of food have been the result of drought, and the war has had little or no effect upon them. To meet those high prices we have had to cut down and to reorganise our consumption of various foods; but the question remains whether, in the event of a good season, and a consequent drop in the prices of many foodstuffs, we shall profit by what we have learned during these hard times, and continue to live more simply and rigidly than has been our wont in the past. For that is what we ought to do, and the money that we contrive to save in so doing should be thanked regularly, in order that the use of it may be available at any moment by the State. We must adhere to the standard and scale of living that has been forced upon us, and voluntarily practise a greater simplicity from patriotic motives.

In one direction, at all events, we shall have to continue the abstemiousness which we have so hardly learned. There is little immediate prospect of a fall in the price of meat, and, indeed, in this direction there is a form of septennial which has not yet been suggested to us by anyone in authority, to which, I ' think, we should turn our attention. It has been a common observa-tion amongst women of late that the cheapest meat one can buy is veal, and many of us have been using more year than we generally do. The reason for the comparative cheapness of veal has been that very few people have been prepared to feed calves, with both milk and fodder at high prices. But with an improvement in the supply of both of these, the cost of feeding calves is becoming less every day, and we ought, I think, to refrain as far as possible from eating either veal or lamb in order that the heavy losses in stock may be as speedily as possible made good. r Whilst there is still this stringency in the State with regard to stock, we certainly ought to do our best to relieve it by lessening our demands, and that will compel us to use more vegetables.

During the winter vegetables, like everything else, have been dear; but with the improved weather conditions they are bound to become cheaper and cheaper. And we can materially assist this cheapening process by grow-ing some ourselves. There are very few suburban homes which do not possess a little piece of spare ground, but most of us like to plant these little spaces with grass and keep them closely clipped and green, to he the pride of our eyes. Whilst the war Lists I think that all our back gardens, and, if need arises, our front gardens too, should be devoted to the production of' foodstuffs. From many sources we learn that every spare plot in Germany, even the bchoolçrounds, have been devoted to the production of potatoes and other vegetables. We have a comfortable, but by no means altogether justifiable, feeling that her need is greater than ours. She is more conscious of her need than we are, and more systematic in her methods of meeting it. Her people are more conscious of her national unity. If we could realise that by growing a few vegetables we should be helping the nation in her hour of peril,

there is not one of us who would not try to do it. And it is a positive fact.

Everyone who contributes anything at all to the national store of food is helping directly and effectively. So let us be up and doing. The season is upon us when the best work of this sort can he done, and every seedsman in the city is ready with advice and instruction for' everyone who wants it. For food value, potatoes, beans, and peas are the best things to grow. Not everyone can manage potatoes, but quite a small plot, if carefully tended, will produce beans enough for a good-sized household, and peas and bean are effective substitutes for meat. Peas require better soil than beans: they root deeper and are greedier. All vegetables require a good deal of care in weeding and watering and keeping the ground open. But it is healthy work that a. woman can do as well as a man, and many women find it more fascinat-ing than flower gardening. If the ground is ready, sowing may be begun at once; broad beans, peas, carrots, parsnips, radishes, silver beet, red beet, onions, leeks, and spinach may all be sown now, as well as parsley, mustard and cress and lettuces for salads, potatoes and. artichokes, and rhubarb. If the ground is not ready, it should be dug or trenched at once, and after a week or two the sowing may be done. Those vegetables which permit of transplanting may be sown at once in boxes, ready to be moved when the ground is prepared.