138 State Horticultural Society. 



the accounts are kept." As a matter of fact, the two sides of our equa- 

 tion, supply and demand, are likely to show many inequalities. How 

 many cooks, how many mistresses who provide any plan that their 

 daily rations shall be made up of food elements properly balanced, 

 selected and put together with relation to their digestibility? How 

 many ever put the price of elements and nutrition side by side and pur- 

 chase accordingly ? In some respects as our writers will say we have not 

 gone so far astray, for the standard dietary is meat of some kind and one 

 or two vegetables. While beef and potatoes, mutton and rice, lamb and 

 green peas, duck and fruit sauce are common, and yet perfectly proper 

 unions. ISTor would it be difficult to prove how our brawny N^ew Eng- 

 land forefathers came by their tough, sinewy bodies. Codfish (richest of all 

 articles in protein) potatoes (pure carbohydrate) pork and beans, rich in 

 fat, are notably muscle making foods. An equally good philosophy 

 exists in the Irishman's use of skimmed milk with his potatoes, or the 

 Schotchman's fondness for oat-meal, haddock and herring. Yet if we 

 heed the teachings of our vegetarian friends, we shall find in many parts 

 of the world, equally strong enduring bodies fed solely upon vegetables 

 and those in much smaller quantities that the American is accustomed 

 to take. So our conclusions resolve themselves into this: A healthy 

 home means on the part of some one a knowledge of the laws governing 

 food and its principles, its quantity as well as quality. A knowledge of 

 sanitary ventilation, of drainage and surrounding conditions, but first, 

 last and most important, food and pure air supply of the best — and best 

 prepared. How many mothers are ready to give sometime to this study ? 

 It is more important for our farmers' wives than city women for they are 

 giving us the brawn and brain of the country. Mrs. Milner will be glad 

 to communicate with any who are inquiring how even farmers' wives 

 can begin the study of healthy homes. 



Atwater, in a late paper entitled, ''Investigations ISTeeded as to the 

 Chemistry and Economy of Foods," says: "The coming fad is domestic 

 science; indeed, it is not coming, but has alread}^ arrived, and the danger 

 is, that it may go as a fad, and leave no permanently useful impression. 

 There is less danger of this since our flubs and societies are making; the 



