7GG ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



sion of househokl problems, as well as for use in connection -with other 

 work in which the Department is interested. 



Many imi^ortant matters concerned with the economical use of 

 cereals, fruits, and vegetables, and products made from them, can 

 be studied by use of the apparatus and methods now available, and 

 it is believed that such studies as well as those already in hand can 

 not fail to yield results of importance in discussing available food 

 supply with reference to economical and rational living. 



The relation between food consumption and the production of use- 

 ful work on the farm and in the home is a question of importance 

 that can be studied with the respiration calorimeter, as readily and as 

 satisfactorily as the relation of fuel to the production of work in an 

 engine can be studied by the ordinary laboratory methods at the dis- 

 posal of the investigator. 



The respiration calorimeter affords an opportunity for studying 

 such problems as those mentioned as w^ell as many others under very 

 favorable conditions, since it permits of the rapid and accurate meas- 

 urement of a large number of factors wdiich are of the greatest im- 

 portance in drawing trustworthy deductions. 



During the year three technical bulletins and two Farmers' Bulle- 

 tins have been issued and several other technical and popular bulle- 

 tins are in the printer's hands, or await publication. Summaries 

 have been prepared for publication in annual reports and a series of 

 fifteen colored charts, designed to show in graphic form the nutritive 

 value of foods, have also been published. Abstracts of articles on 

 nutrition have been prepared, as heretofore, for publication in the 

 Experiment Station Record and poj^ular summaries of data, particu- 

 larly in respect to the nutrition w^ork of the experiment station, have 

 been prepared for publication in the series of Farmers' Bulletins en- 

 titled " Experiment Station Work." The correspondence and other 

 general work necessitated by the nutrition investigations has been 

 carried on as usual and the marked growth in work of this character 

 and increased number of requests for information and for nutrition 

 publications, particularly w^ith reference to the economical prepara- 

 tion of foods in the home, is an indication of a widespread and gen- 

 eral interest in nutrition work on the part of home makers on farms 

 and in towns, as well as of students, teachers, physicians, and 

 investigators. 



A large part of the work of diffusing the information acquired 

 in the nutrition investigations is most effectively done through 

 colleges, schools, farmers' institutes, extension departments, and 

 women's organizations of various kinds. The agricultural colleges 

 and schools, state departments of agriculture, granges, and other 

 agricultural organizations are rapidly extending their operations 

 relating to the work of women on our farms. This Office is seeking 

 active cooperation with these educational agencies as one of the 

 best means of securing the rapid spread of rational ideas regarding 

 human food and nutrition. 



