Department of Home Economics Ixiii 



Revision of the mailing list was begun in October, igiy, by sending 

 out franked postal cards with a return card attached. This work is now 

 practically completed. The old list, including club members, contained 

 82,605 names; the new list at present contains 63,461 names. In addition 

 to this number of readers regularly receiving publications, 25,922 indi- 

 vidual requests for lessons have been filled, 3179 of which were from 

 outside the State. During the present emergency, more out-of-State 

 persons have been enrolled than is ordinarily the policy; since July i, 

 1680 non-residents have been added to the list. Besides the requests 

 for reading-course publications, the Department received and filled during 

 February and March 600 requests for Food Commission bulletins. The 

 largest number of individual requests for Department publications was 

 4995, in October. 



Cornell study clubs. — Twenty-one new study clubs have been added 

 to the list during the year, making a total of 258 with an average member- 

 ship of 25. The clubs have been of particular service in the food con- 

 servation work in their communities, because they were a ready-made 

 nucleus for community interest with which the county food conservation 

 agents might work. Twenty-seven programs on food conservation, with 

 references for study, have been prepared by the Department and sent 

 to the clubs as guides for their meetings. These programs have included 

 such subjects as canning, drying, and salting of various fruits and vege- 

 tables in season; the making of jellies; the continuous and intermittent 

 methods of canning; bacteria as related to canning; the construction 

 and use of fireless cookers; the wider utilization of fruit juices; planning 

 meals, including meals for harvest hands; the making of meat-substitute 

 dishes; the use of milk; the conservation of fats; the conservation of wheat 

 and the use of wheat substitutes; the food needs of the family; the spring 

 garden; and the preservation of eggs and butter. 



Special food conservation work. — Dtiring the year the Department 

 carried out, in cooperation with the New York State Food Supply Com- 

 mission and its successor, the New York State Food Commission, a state 

 program on food conservation. From July i to November i, 191 7, 

 thirty-six counties and seven cities, with a food conservation agent in 

 each, were organized by the Department, in addition to the five counties 

 that had already been permanently organized. In November the organi- 

 zation was taken over by the Farm Biu-eau and the Food Commission, 

 and the program was left with this Department. 



The Department lias planned, outlined, and directed through the 

 county home demonstration agents, a state-wide campaign for the in- 

 creased use of milk, in an attempt to counteract the diminished con- 

 sumption due to the rise in price. A campaign for the use of other dairy 



