No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 331 



preference in taste. Rice is eight to ten cents a pound in bulk; 

 putted rice is twenty-seven cents a pound, and moreover, a pound of 

 unprepared rice will, when cooked, be greater in bulk than the 

 package of prepared rice. Cornmeal, which by the way is rich in 

 fuel value, costs about two and a half cents a pound; corn Hakes 

 cost over fourteen cents a pound. In the case of both of these 

 cereals it may be urged that the prepared variety saves work and 

 fuel; moreover, we may prefer the taste of corn Hakes to corn meal 

 mush. All this is true, but it is the business of the housekeeper 

 to consider it and to decide which in her case is of more value — 

 to save money or to save labor and fuel. It must be confessed that 

 often it is wiser to do the latter, but let us be very sure that we 

 know Avhich we are doing and why Ave are doing it. 



A further reason for fhe high cost of food is that we waste nutri- 

 tive value by improper cooking and so expensive food materials are 

 failing to supply the needs of the body. The best cut of steak or 

 eggs fresh from the nest may be so spoiled by being overcooked, 

 usually by frying that they injure rather than help the body. More- 

 over, a cheap cut of meat cooked slowly and thoroughly, as in a lire- 

 less cooker, is far more nutritive than an expensive steak fried rapid- 

 ly until it is similar to leather in consistency. 



The mention of the tireless cooker suggests another means of re- 

 ducing the cost of living, if not in actual dollars, at least in ex- 

 penditure of labor. When housekeepers learn that within the house 

 as well as on the farm, it pays to spend money for new appliances 

 to lighten and facilitate work, then we shall hear less about the 

 drudgery of house work, and then will our farmers' wives have more 

 time for other pursuits — for physical, mental and spiritual regen- 

 eration. 



Again, as in the matter of food, we must consider our special 

 needs. Perhaps what saves labor in one home may prove an extra 

 burden in another. However, we all need some l)etter facilities for 

 Vvork — running Avater in the house, bath rooms, cook-stoves and 

 sinks conveniently placed and of the right height. We should put 

 more study into the arrangement of the workshop of the home — the 

 kitchen^so that every needed utensil may be so placed that we do 

 not take two steps Avhere one Avill do. In many a farm house we 

 economize and sometimes go into debt in order to buj' a heavy 

 brussels carpet for the parlor or an elaborate piece of stuffed fur- 

 niture — articles Avhich Avill be harder to take care of than plainer 

 furnishings. At the same time Ave leave our kitchens just as they 

 were built forty years ago, Avith the stove several rods from the 

 sink or kitchen table and with the pantry shelves another two rods 

 away, and we are content to do our Avashing Avith as few facilities 

 as it was done fifty years ago. Many a woman will insist upon 

 having Nottiuglijni. lace curtains at her parlor Avindows and yet 

 Avill feel that she cannot atl'ord to have her windoAvs and doors prop- 

 erly screened from those store-houses of filth and disease, the com- 

 mon house flies. 



We are increasing the cost of living, then, by spending too little 

 in our houses for what will add to the comfort of the family, to 

 the ease of the housekeeper in performing her duties, and to the ht^alth 

 of the household, as well as by spending too much money without 

 wisdom. 



