First Canning Demonstration of the Season 



by canning, drying and brining, and utilization of home-grown products to save 

 transportation of staple foods, such as wheat, meat, sugar and animal fats. A 

 special cottage cheese campaign to save meat resulted in the making of 343,131 

 pounds for home use and for market during 1918, and 117,886 pounds of "4-H" 

 Brand butter was produced for market. 



Other home-grown products which were stressed were fish, peanuts, poultry, 

 peas, beans and native nuts. Demonstrations in the use of these and in the saving 

 of wheat, meat, fats and sugar, were given to more than 300,000 people. 



Special activities of the Home Demonstration Work resulted in the stocking 

 of 1,000 farm fish ponds; a "kill the rat" campaign resulted in more than 200,000 

 fatalities to these pests. 



At the request of the War Department and the Food Administration, the 

 Home Demonstration Food Specialists gave instruction at Camp Shelby to the 

 fifty head cooks in their company kitchens in the economical uses of staple foods. 

 As a result of this instruction the Quartermaster reports a saving of 1,928,976 

 pounds of wheat flour, 428,775 pounds of sugar and 171,758 pounds of animal 

 fat, besides a marked improvement in the quality of the food served to the 30,000 

 soldiers in the camp. The Home Demonstration Agents also gave assistance to 

 the bakers in working out recipes calling for a certain percentage of reduction in 

 wheat flour, and thus prevented them from being closed by the Food Adminis- 

 tration for failure to comply with food regulations. When the ruling was made 

 that every dealer in eggs must candle them, a state-wide call was sent to the Home 

 Demonstration Agents to give instructions in egg-candling to the dealers, as they 

 had already been giving it to the producers. 



Because of the war claims, the orphanages were in a measure being over- 

 looked, so the Home Demonstration Agents collected and sent 20,000 quarts of 

 fruits and vegetables from the canning club members to the dependent little ones 

 in these homes, besides quantities of other food produced and a nice sum of 

 money. 



During the epidemic of influenza these agents have been unremitting in their 

 co-operation with the Department of Health in combating the plague. Prac- 

 tically every County Agent used her demonstration kitchen to prepare food to be 

 delivered to the sick. Several put themselves and their cars at the disposal of the 

 doctors and nurses. Many of them nursed the sick, until they were them- 

 selves taken ill. The State workers, with headquarters at A. & M. College, took 

 charge of the hospital kitchens at the College, where there were about 1,800 

 drafted men and S. A. T. C. boys. Nearly 1,500 cases of influenza occurred and 

 about 150 cases of pneumonia. These agents assisted to prepare the food for 

 these men, the doctors, orderlies and nurses and many visitors who came to see 

 their sick ones. They cooked meals and washed dishes for twenty-two days and 

 nights, preparing three meals each day and a midnight supper for the night shift. 



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