232 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



to make good yeast bread. With the rich as well as the poor, this 

 should be regarded as an indispensable part of a girl's education. 

 Her future housekeeping, even if living in affluence, will be more 

 likely to ensure her own comfort, as well as that of her fam- 

 ily, if she has a practical knowledge of housework. Our children 

 should be early taught, both in the family and school, that to learn 

 to be useful is alike their duty, privilege, and interest. In order 

 to give a practical expression to this view, 1 offered a series of 

 prizes last summer to the girls in the Morgan School at Clinton, 

 who should make the befet yeast bread. The fine loaves of some 

 thirty competitors, made the duty of the lady "judges" one of 

 real difficulty. Though a great number of valuable prizes are 

 given out at each. anniversary of this Institution, none awakened 

 greater interest, than the bread prizes which were distributed last 

 season by the hand of Lieut. -Gov. Bulkeley. It would be well if 

 the wholesome sentiments he then expressed in favor of teaching 

 the art of bread making to our girls, could be widely heard 

 and accepted. Valuable as prizes may be in stimulating youth to 

 highest effort and excellence in the various school studies, the 

 stimulus now greatly needed by our girls is that which shall cre- 

 ate new interest in the art of cooking. 



Pies and cakes are used to an injurious extent. Wendell 

 Phillips says that "since slavery is abolished, the next great revo- 

 lution needed is the abolition of the American nuisance of pies." 

 This article is seldom, if ever, found on the Continent of 

 Europe, though still used to a limited extent in England and 

 .Scotland. The excessive use of unwholesome pastry is pronounced 

 by the medical authorities as the most frequent cause of dyspepsia. 



The more common diseases among farmers are first, pulmonary 

 affections in various forms; second, rheumatism; third, dyspepsia; 

 fourth, fevers, especially of the typhoid type. Every possible 

 precaution should be employed to guard against these insidious 

 enemies. We need to reiterate the old motto, "An ounce of 

 prevention is worth a pound of cure." 



The farmer, with his active out-door life, can digest almost any- 

 thing, and often thrives on a wretched diet, but the wife and 

 daughters, living too much in doors, grow pale and dyspeptic on 

 the same fare. They need to learn and practice the pedestrian 

 habits of the women of England. It is largely because they 

 exercise daily in the open air, that the latter retain so long the 

 .bloom and vigor of youth. More out-door exercise would pro- 



