116 



MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 2U 



Table II. Distribution of Combined 

 Scores for Eggs and Meat 



*Scored on the basis of 9 points for meat once a day, and 9 points for eggs three times 

 a week in diets containing one quart of milk a day. In diets having smaller quantities 

 of milk a proportionally larger allowance was made for eggs, up to a maximum of 21 

 for one egg a day in diets containing only one pint or less milk daily. 



tice of the faniilj', it seems reasonable to conclude that the number of eggs 

 used in Southwick appears high because of the seasonal variation in produc- 

 tion. Most of the eggs used by the families in both towns are produced 

 locally, so that time of year has much influence on egg supply. 



The amounts of meat in the diets are affected by the facilities for pur- 

 chase. Many of the housewives of Carver buy meat from a travelling butch- 

 er. The wagon comes around two or three times a week and on the other 

 days there is no convenient place where meat can be bought. Meat is avail- 

 able at shops in Southwick Center, but not in those elsewhere in the town. 

 The lack of conveniently located meat markets is thus a factor in keeping 

 down the amount of meat consumed. Meat products are not ordinarily eaten 

 to excess in either town. 



Coffee and Tea 



In scoring the diets a deduction of 10 points from the total was made for 

 the regular use of either coffee or tea. In Carver 69 children, ranging in age 

 from 6 to 16, drank coffee or tea regularly. Tea is not a common drink and 

 only a few of the older children liked it; hereafter, therefore, di.scussion 

 will be limited to the use of coffee. 



Among the Finns and the French Canadians, coffee is almost universal as 

 the breakfast beverage of all the family past early infancy; 39 of the 69 

 Carver children who used coffee regularly were Finnish and 11 French Can- 

 adian. Of the 95 native children in Carver, only 19 drank coffee and most 

 of them were at least twelve years old. In Southwick there were 25 of the 

 93 children of native stock who drank coffee; one-third (9 out of 27) of the 

 children of foreign-born parentage used it. No correlation between the 

 drinking of coffee and the state of health could be discovered. In view of 

 the small numbers involved, this is neither suqirising nor significant. 



