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“Gather up the fragments that remain that nothing be lost.” John 6:13.

True economy consists in using all of a good material, rather than in buying an inferior quality.

It is poor economy from a financial standpoint (saying nothing of health) to buy small or specked fruits or vegetables.

It takes longer to pare, quarter and core a specked apple than a sound one, because the decayed part has first to be cut out and one may have to cut again and again before it is all removed and when it is finished there may not remain a quarter of an apple.

I once saw two barrels of apples bought at a great “bargain.” Four or five people whose time was valuable spent an afternoon in preparing those apples to stew; when they had finished, there was just a bushel left and they were so flavorless that it was necessary to add lemon juice and a good deal of sugar to make them at all palatable.

C. F. Langworthy, Ph. D. in speaking of overripe and partially decayed fruit says: “In addition to a deterioration in flavor, there is always the possibility of digestive disturbance if such fruit is eaten raw.”—Farmers’ Bulletin 293. U. S. Department of Agriculture.

Inferior, immature fruit, dried, requires a larger proportion of sugar than well ripened fruit, and then it is neither palatable nor wholesome.

Small prunes with their large proportion of stone and skin are expensive besides being inferior in flavor.

It takes as long to pare, quarter and core a small apple as a large one, and a bushel of large apples will yield more pulp than a bushel of small ones, notwithstanding the spaces, there being a so much larger proportion of skins and cores in the small ones.

Small pineapples are especially expensive.

“Cheap” flour costs more than the best because it takes a larger quantity to make the same amount of bread.

Corn starch that costs two or three cents less per package than the best will sometimes require double the quantity for thickening, besides imparting a strong, disagreeable flavor.

Cotton seed oil that is not well refined, so that it is clear and nearly white is not fit for food, and requires more for shortening.

Economy in all things, food, clothing, houses, climate is that which keeps us in the best condition physically and spiritually.