FARMERS' INSTITUTES. • 165 



Lastly, our schools should be under the care and direction of well 

 trained physicians, who should have power to enforce such changes 

 as should be made, as well as to discover and separate promptly such 

 children as are affected with diseases and conditions unfavorable and 

 dangerous to others. 



DISCUSSION. 



Mrs. Mayo: I wonder if the efl'ect of our school teachers upon our sons is not 

 •quite as much as it is ujjon our daughters. I think the boys are influenced as well as 

 the girls by the neatness of the teacher. 



I am very glad that this question of foods — which is a question that you and I have 

 thought over when our children were young, wliether the foods were the best for them — 

 has come up. And see what knowledge of the subject is being brought to the mothers 

 of today! I heard a farmer's wife say she had raised a good many geese, and could 

 feed a goose to perfection, but she did not know how to feed her boy and girl and her 

 husband. I think children should be studied very carefully, and each given the par- 

 ticular foods they require. I am very glad this paper has been given by so good an 

 iiuthority as Dr. Mosher. 



Voice: I should like to ask liow early we should begin feeding children such foods 

 as eggs, for instance. 



Mrs. Scott: It seems to me that I began feeding my children the cereals Avhen 

 they were about a year old, and then gradually went on from that to the stronger 

 foods. I do not know why eggs should not be good food when the child is a year old, 

 or a little less. 



\'oice : I have known good results at ten months old when it was cooked very lightly, 

 and then begin to take the eggs cooked a little harder until they can masticate with 

 their teeth. 



Voice: I think raw eggs could be fed to a child very young. Also to invalids. Milk, 

 of course, is another good food. 



Mrs. ilayo: We know that an egg contains all the elements that go to support life, 

 and therefore it certainly is an excellent food, either for children or grown people. 



Mrs. Scott: There is a good deal of talk about not eating meat, and depending 

 altogether on the cereals, but we cannot in our homes cook the cereals enough so that 

 they will take the place of meat. This is altogether owing to the fact that we do not 

 cook them properly, for unless they are baked or cooked and cooked again it is 

 impossible for them to take the place of meat. 



Voice: I would like to speak about the use of nuts in the place of meats. I know 

 of a boy who has always been very delicate, and it was almost impossible for him to 

 €at any amount of meat, but by giving him the nut butter he is very much better. 



Voice: What is the effect of too much sugar for children? 



Dr. Worden : I have hardly known of a case where children were fed too much 

 sugar. We all need a certain amount of sugar, though, of course, it can be overdone. 



Voice: Is condensed milk proper food for an infant? 



Voice: Some would think it was not good food for an infant because the milk is 

 from so many cows. This may be true in some cases. There is also another objection: 

 the condensed milk is very sweet, containing a large amount of sugar, which fattens 

 the child, causing it to appear to be healthy, but in case of sickness the child fed on 

 condensed milk as a rule does not seem to have much strength to pull through the 

 sick spell. Still, there are cases where condensed milk can be fed to infants where noth- 

 ing else seems to agree with them. 



