=Beans.= Baked navy beans may well be substituted on a menu for meat, containing, as they do, twenty-two and one half per cent protein. It is needless to state that beans and lean meat or eggs should not be served at the same meal. Beans have the advantage of being cheaper than meat, yet, as stated above, the protein in the legumes is less easily digested than the protein of meat or eggs. They must be thoroughly cooked and thoroughly masticated. There is but a small percentage of fat in dried beans and for this reason they are usually baked with a piece of pork. They make a very complete, perhaps the most complete food, containing nutrient elements in about the proper proportions. Effort has been made to make a bean cracker for the sustenance of soldiers on a march, thus giving them a complete food in condensed form. In baking dried beans or peas, soft or distilled water should be used, as the lime of hard water makes the shell almost indigestible. For the same reason salt should be added when the beans are nearly done. If soft water is not obtainable, add a little baking soda, in the proportion of a half a teaspoon to two quarts of water. _String Beans._ The string bean contains very little nutrient elements, as shown by Table VIII. The pod and the bean, at this unripe stage, are nearly ninety per cent water. Their chief value as a food consists of their appetizing quality to those who are fond of them, thus stimulating the flow of gastric juice. Like all green vegetables, they stimulate the action of the kidneys. For this reason all green vegetables are particularly valuable to those who drink little water. _Lima Beans._ The dry, shelled bean, used during the winter, boiled and baked is the lima bean. _Kidney Beans_ contain much water but are more nutritious than the string bean. _Soy Bean._ In China and Japan this bean is used extensively. Being rich in protein, it makes a well balanced diet with rice. The soy bean is made into various preparations, one of the most important being _shoyo_, now being introduced into other countries. To make it, the soy bean is cooked and mixed with roasted wheat flour and salt; into this is put a special ferment. It is then allowed to stand for years in casks. The result is a thick, brown liquid with a pungent, agreeable taste. It is very nourishing. A kind of cheese is also made from boiling the soy bean for several hours, then wrapping the hot mass in bundles of straw, and putting it in a tightly closed cellar for twenty-four hours. * * * * * =Lentils= are not commonly used in this country, but they were one of the earliest vegetables to be cultivated in Asia and the Mediterranean countries. They are imported and are found only in the best markets of large cities. They are used in the menu like dried peas and are fully as nourishing, but the flavor of the lentil is pronounced and they are not as agreeable to the average person as peas or beans.