Report of Missouri Farmers' Week. 



173 



unused portion is excreted ; the body has none or but little capacity 

 for storing this form of food. 



Under normal conditions the appetite is the guide that helps 

 us decide how much of these various substances should be eaten; 

 but that the appetite is not always a trustworthy guide is mani- 

 fested by the frequent attacks of indigestion, experienced both by 

 adults and children, as well as by the fact that so many adults are 

 suffering from diseases, namely, gout, constipation, anaemia, etc., 

 brought on by certain errors of diet. The stockman and farmer 

 have long since recognized the importance of feeding animals so 

 that they may do their maximum amount of work. No intelligent 

 farmer would think of allowing his horse to wander ad libitum 

 through the grain bins; and yet this is about what we are doing 

 with our children. For the average family the fact that a child 

 wants some edible thing is sufficient reason for giving it to him. 

 The intelligent mother, however, appreciates that the food of the 

 small child should, in some respects at least, be different from that 

 of the older child, both in kind and quantity, and that the appetite 

 should not be the guide. But because of lack of knowledge she 

 often gives the child the wrong food, and sometimes in her en- 

 deavor not to overfeed it she does not give it enough, and then 

 wonders why the child does not develop as it should. She is even 

 led to make comparisons, to the unjust disparagement of science, 

 between her neighbor's child, who apparently is allowed to eat 

 anything and everything, and her own child who is being so care- 

 fully brought up. 



In order to help mothers in working out the problem of feed- 

 ing children, the various meals were prepared. The menus, to- 

 gether with the amounts and calorific value of each substance, are 

 given in the following tables : 



I. 



