uice (sweet cider), orange
juice or diluted lemon juice may be a very desirable morning drink. The
effect is partly due to the acid but not wholly. Juices which are not acid
to the taste, as those of prunes, figs, onions, have laxative properties.
So from a great variety of fruits and vegetables, especially those which
are fibrous or acid or both, we may obtain the substitute for "pills" in
wholesome foods which are generally cheaper than drugs.

No diet can be properly built without a suitable supply of mineral salts.
The free use of milk is our greatest safeguard against lack of any save
iron, but when milk is scarce and has to be saved as now for the babies of
the world, it is fortunate that we can make fruits and vegetables take its
place in part. Some of our very common vegetables are good sources of the
calcium (lime) and phosphorus so freely supplied in milk. Among these may
be taken as an example the carrot, which has not had due recognition in
many quarters and in some is even spoken of contemptuously as "cattle
food." Its cheapness comes from the fact that it is easy to grow and easy
to keep through the winter and should not blind us to its merits. A
good-sized carrot (weight one-fourth pound) will have only about half the
fuel value of a medium-sized potato, but nearly ten times as much calcium
as the potato and about one-third more phosphorus. While actual figures
show that other vegetables, especially parsnips, turnips, celery,
cauliflower, and lettuce, are richer in calcium than the carrot, its
cheapness and fuel value make it worthy of emphasis. Everyone who has a
garden should devote some space to this pretty and palatable vegetable. It
is perhaps at its best when steamed till soft without salting and then cut
up into a nicely seasoned white sauce; its sweetness will not then be
destroyed nor its salts lost in the cooking water. It is not only useful
as a hot vegetable, but in salads, in the form of a toothsome marmalade,
and as the foundation of a steamed pudding. For little children it is most
wholesome and they should make its acquaintance by the time they are a
year and a half old, in the form of a cream soup. A dish of carrots and
peas (one-half cup peas, one-fourth cup carrot cubes, one-half cup white
sauce) will have almost the same food values (for fuel, calcium,
phosphorus, and iron) as an equivalent serving of oatmeal, milk, and sugar
(three-fourths cup cooked oatmeal, one-half cup milk, one roun