saltpeter
- n (KNO3) used especially as a fertilizer and explosive
- Germany needed French carbide-cyanamide for saltpeter, French bauxite for aluminum; France needed German iron and steel for emergency railroad tracks and barbed wire .
- They start with talk about a hunger strike against the saltpeter in the mashed potatoes, move on into persecution of a weak, homesick child named Emery.
- This implies, of course, that more saltpeter than ever is being dumped into their rations.