268 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



centage of starch, part of it a natural constituent and part a 

 form of adulteration, it should be mixed with water and well 

 cooked before the hot milk is added and then served without 

 further cooking. Milk and cocoa, and of course water, should 

 be the only beverages allowed children. Mothers should give 

 more thought to this habit of allowing their children the use 

 of tea and coffee with food ; as they also should of allowing 

 them other forms of stimulating beverages, for " As the twig 

 is bent the tree is inclined," and false habits of life, inculcated 

 in early youth, are almost impossible to eradicate in later years. 

 Not only does the use of tea and coffee produce with the child 

 nervous disorders and so a weakened, frail physique, but in 

 time a desire comes for stronger beverages. This desire is 

 also fed unthinkingly by brandy sauces, by brandy in fruit 

 cakes and puddings, in mince pies and in brandied peaches, 

 etc., while the free use of spices and other stimulating condi- 

 ments is also to be deplored. " Habits are the crutches of old 

 age," and we lean upon them more and more with every year. In 

 early youth is the time to form right habits, and if mothers will 

 but recognize the important part that diet plays in the destiny 

 of their child, I am sure that many of the evils so sadly de- 

 plored will cease to exist for lack of fuel to exist upon. Many 

 times I have been asked, " Do you think it possible for one with 

 fixed habits in life to change them, to form new ones?" We 

 are never too old to learn new and better ways of living, and 

 where there is a strong determination to do so false habits can 

 be gradually overcome, until, with time, an entire change has 

 been made in one's method of living. 



In the committing of physical sins the individual committing 

 the sin is not the only one to suffer. Everyone near and dear 

 to the individual must suffer, and with ill health in the home 

 there can be no cheeriness in its atmosphere. A strong, healthy 

 stomach is one of life's greatest blessings, but we do not con- 

 sider it as such until too late. Parents desire only good for 

 their children, still they many times encourage them in those 

 things which they know to be wrong, and as a result there are 

 but few children but what are ailing with some form of stomach 

 trouble. We see the results in their frail physiques. Is it 

 not time to inquire into such conditions, to study cause and ef- 

 fect? 



