AN EKKOK IN OUR AGRICULTCKAL I'lKiPLCTlON AND THE REMEDY. 



If the data ;it hand are to be taken as representative, our national 

 dietary and onr agricultural luoduction are out of balance. Our croi>s, 

 our food supply, and the food we consume contain, when taken to«j:ether, 

 too little of the materials which make muscle and tendon and t<M> mudi 

 of those whicli serve tlie body for fuel to furnish licat and muscular 

 force; that is to say, they lack protein and have an excess of fats ant? 

 carbohydrates. This is an ecoTiomic error of ;i;rave import. The fanner 

 ispiimarily resjHJUsible. lie is the first loser and he must take the lirst 

 stej* towards ret'onii. 'IMiat stej) w ill he the i>roduein<; of jdants richer 

 in ]»rotein and meats, with more lean and less fat. For the accurate 

 diafiuosis of the evil and the successful ajiplication of the remedy the 

 stations have rendered and <-an render invaliial»Ie aid. 



The trouble h;is been more t»r less va;iiU'ly tell, but the »'\act «lifh- 

 cull.N hits not Itecii i,fcnei;illy understood. Some late studies of diet- 

 aries l>y the writer help to l)riii_u: ••'d the. error in our Ibod eonsnniittion. 

 The comi)ilation t»l' analyses ot .\meriean leedin.i; stnlfs by Messrs. 

 Jenkins and Winton, lately publishcil in the lOxpeiiment Station Kecin'd 

 (vt»l. II, \>. 7(»1), shows the deliciiMicy of |irot«'in in <»ur feedini; stutts. 



Much more in(|uiry is needed t^t just ii'y detinite an<l iinal eonclusions, 

 but the facts at hand all point so <-learly to a one sitledness of both our 

 food <'onsumption and our Ibod production as to leave little doubt ot 

 the facts, though we must lot)k to futuie intpiiry for their exact measure. 



ONE-SIDF-nNKSS OF i)V\l DIKIAKV. 



Bulletin No. 7 «»1" the <'onne«licut ISlorrs Station (see Kxperinu^nt 

 Station Kecoid. \oI. ni, p. L'l.?) <'ontains iiccounts of iIm- composition 

 of materials used for Ibod in the Uniti'd Stales, as siiowii by analyses, 

 and of the quantities of nutrients in a consideiabh' nundter of Ameii- 

 can dietaries. The food nuiterials of which analyses are available 

 are mostly fr()m the Northern and Eastern States. The statistics of 

 dietaries sunnnarize the results of investigations by the writ«'r and gen- 

 tlenu'u associated with him ofliT dietaries of nearly !K)P people, mostly 

 wage- workers in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and of .some l.i dietu- 

 ries of Avage-workers iu Canada. For the statistics of the composition 

 of the food materials, reference must be made to the original arti«le. 

 The details of the New England dietaries are summarized in Table 1, here- 

 with. Tiie same table includes, for the sake of comparison, a number 

 of rei)reseutative European dietaries and figures for dietary standards. 

 672 



