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Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 43.djvu/826

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806
THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

the Agricultural Building and in the Florida and Colorado sections oi the Horticultural Building. In the latter building also is a large and varied assortment of apple jellies, each kind bearing the name of the variety of apple from which it was made, exhibited by a Maine woman. Across the avenue, outside the fair grounds, is the interesting exhibit of Manitoba. Here may be seen a large collection of preserved fruits and preserved and pickled vegetables, all put up by women in their homes.

The food stuffs, and especially the partly prepared foods exhibited by manufacturers, are numerous and varied. Most of these are placed in the gallery of the Agricultural Building, but there are a few important exceptions. Butter and cheese are to be found in the Dairy Building, coffee and tea in the foreign buildings or foreign sections of the large buildings. A great part of the exhibit in the Brazil Building consists of coffee, and this product is shown also by other countries of South and Central America and the West Indies. In some of the buildings a cup of the beverage may be had. Ceylon tea is served by Cingalese attendants in the Ceylon Court and in three or four of the general buildings. Four of the prominent chocolate manufacturers have separate small buildings in various parts of the grounds, and another has an attractive exhibit in the Agricultural Building. At all of these chocolate and cocoa are served. In the main food display the great packing houses exhibit canned, smoked, dried, and salt meats, canned fish and shell fish, mince-meat, lard, extract of beef, and canned soups. An English firm has gone one step beyond the canned soups and sends desiccated soups. Butterine or oleomargarine is shown by several manufacturers, and accompanied by clear and frank statements of how it is made and what it may be used for. Mixtures of beef suet and cotton-seed oil, under the names of vegetolo, cotosuet, and cottolene, are offered to take the place of lard. The value of rice and rice flour as food is well shown in the Louisiana section of the Agricultural Building. Brands of salt which are declared to withstand the attacks of "General Humidity" are exhibited in this building and in the Mining Building. In the inventions room of the Woman's Building are evaporated vegetables and sweet-potato flour prepared by a process which was invented by a St. Louis woman. Condensed milk and evaporated cream, baking powders, gelatin, fruit butters, pickles, and catsups are among the many other foods shown by enterprising manufacturers. At many of the food booths visitors are invited to taste the foods, and are requested to register their own names or those of their grocers.

There is no lack of appliances and utensils for cooking. The ranges are too numerous to mention, but a few unusual features may be noticed. One make has a round iron plate on the floor of