388 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Experimental studies on the digestibility of various foods were 

 continued. The materials studied included various kinds of wheat 

 flours ; wheat bran in a diet containing no wheat flour ; water-ground 

 buckwheat; kafir corn milled in specified ways (showing that grind- 

 ing increases digestibility) : soy bean and peanut press cakes (show- 

 ing them to be nutritious roods as regards composition and digesti- 

 bility) ; certain meats concerning the food value of w^hich little re- 

 liable information has been available (horse meat, corned seal hams, 

 rabbit, and kid, all of Avhich were assimilated in much the same de- 

 gree as comparable meats) ; miscellaneous animal and vegetable fats; 

 and liA'drogenated oils. 



Various methods were developed for making technical information 

 along the lines of home economics easily available to extension 

 workers and housekeepers, such as a formula by which the food 

 value of a list of foods can be easily and quickly computed and the 

 proper combinations determined ; and a series of colored charts show- 

 ing in attractive pictorial form the groups of foods necessary in an 

 adequate diet and how they may be chosen and combined to make 

 nutritious, palatable, and economical meals. Plans were also w^orked 

 out for mimeographed loose-leaf notebook information on home eco- 

 nomics subjects for the use of home demonstration agents. 



In connection with a dietary survey undertaken in cooperation 

 with the Bureau of Markets, 2,000 dietary records, each covering a 

 period of 7 days, were collected from 1,425 families and 575 institu- 

 tions representing 46 States, 16 nationalities, many occupations and 

 incomes, and both urban and rural conditions. 



From a summary of 500 of these family records it appears that the average 

 cost of food per man per day was 46 cents, with an average return in food 

 vahie of 3,225 calories, 96 grams protein, 118 grams fat, and 405 grams carbo- 

 hydrate, figures in fairly close accord with the dietary standards ordinarily 

 used in discussing such problems of general nutrition. A comparison of the 

 foodstuffs purchased by the present 500 families with the amounts of these 

 same foods purchased by 400 families about 20 years ago shows that the 

 amount of meat in the diet has decreased about 8 per cent and grain products 

 about 11 per cent, while dairy products have increased about 6 per cent, vege- 

 tables 4 per cent, and fruits 8 per cent. While, judging by these studies, the 

 average diet seems to be adequate, it seems fair to conclude that individual 

 food habits need to be corrected, because out of 500 family studies one-third 

 were getting less than 88 grams of protein and 3,000 calories of energy, values 

 which are considered the minimum for safety. 



A different type of survey undertaken, the results of which were 

 tabulated and interpreted during the year, is the so-called house- 

 hold labor survey, made in 91 farm homes in St. Joseph County, 

 Mich. This survey was intended to secure reliable information re- 

 garding problems of household management and labor with their 

 important bearings on social and economic conditions, and also to 

 develop methods for similar surveys elsewhere. 



Only one-fifth of the farm women represented in this survey hired help at 

 any time, two-thirds depended upon the help given by members of the family, 

 and one-tenth stated that they had no help. The average length of a farm 

 woman's day in this locality was 13 hours in summer and 10 in winter, includ- 

 ing time spent at meals. They estimated that they had one and one-half hours 

 of leisure daily in summer and two and one-half in winter. More than one- 

 fourth of the women took no pleasure trips by automobile or train during the 

 year, the others took trips averaging 55 miles. On only 3 farms did the men 

 have the entire care of the poultry, while 69 per cent of the women cared for 

 it all of the year. In 2 of the 3 areas surveyed 73 per cent of the women helped 



