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Comparative Value of Food

mankind have now found out the precise alimentary value of most kinds of food, and have priced them accordingly. Yet this is not always the case, and one great object of the economist in household affairs is to seek out such as are sold below their real value, and use them for their proper purposes. It is a rule generally maintained, that the supply of any article is equal to the demand; but in proportion to the increase of the demand is the price raised, unless the supply is practically unlimited, when the larger the demand the more the price seems to fall. But still it is notorious that whenever it is found out that any well-known article has more useful qualities than have generally been assigned to it, the demand being increased has a tendency to raise the price, and from that time it is no longer beneficially applicable, and gradually again falls out of use. It must be remembered that in several of our aliments as sold in the market there is a large proportion of water, as in butcher's meat, fish, poultry, and green vegetables, including potatoes; while in flour, rice, and other similar articles, the quantity of water is comparatively small. The following table exhibits the quantity of nutritive matter in the ordinary articles of food, as compared with their price :-