HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARM BUREAU MONTHLY 

 HOME MAKING 



MISS HELEN A. HARUIMAN, Deiinmstrntioli Asent 



School Lunches 



Aside from the business and educa- 

 tional activities centering about the two 

 colleges, Amherst is essentially an agri- 

 cultural community. A large propor- 

 tion of our pupils dwell on farms and 

 come long distances to school. This 

 necessitates bringing the noon lunch with 

 them. The noon recess is very apt to de- 

 generate into something distinctly detri- 

 mental to health, good manners and 

 discipline. The food in winter is fre- 

 quently frozen in carrying to school and 

 sometimes does not thaw out until it is 

 eaten. The lunch is apt to be bolted as a 

 side incident to some game that is pro- 

 gressing or if eaten in the school room 

 the lunch period becomes a time for 

 horse play, tricks, etc., when the furni- 

 ture is marred or broken or smeared 

 with jam and the floor covered with 

 crumbs and grease. In the Amherst 

 schools we conceived the idea that this 

 period with proper equipment and 

 supervison might be turned into a period 

 whose by-products instead of tho.se men- 

 tioned above, would be those tending 

 towards good manners, and good fellow- 

 ship among pupils and teachers, good 

 digestions for all, giving some elemen- 

 tary knowledge of cooking and sewing. 



The beginning was due to the initia- 

 tive of Miss Cora Hewlett, principal of 

 the South Amherst school, a two room 

 rural building. She borrowed two oil 

 stoves that had been discarded from the 

 High School domestic Science equip- 

 ment, the rest of the equipment was 

 provided in various ways through the 

 enterprise of teachers and pupils. The 

 pupils of the two upper grades are 

 transported from this district of the 

 Junior High school. Yet these lower 

 grade children remaining assume the 

 responsibility of preparing and serving 

 the noon-day lunch, washing the dishes 

 and putting the room to rights. Pupils 

 are detailed for each of these duties 

 and even the boys contribute theii' quota 

 of service. 



Much of the food is brought from the 

 home farms of the children. The idea is 

 more to supplement than to provide the 

 major part of the lunch. Cocoa, Camp- 

 bell's soups, Indian pudding, etc., are 

 some of the staples. Time is taken for 

 proper masticating the food and good 

 table forms are followed as far as con- 

 ditions permit. 



In the Kellogg Avenue Grammar 

 school and the .Junior High school, which 

 occupy adjoining buildings, there are 68 

 pupils who bring their lunches. In 

 warm weather they perched on neigh- 

 boring ash piles and fences while they 

 hastily devoured their lunches. In cold 



Concluded on page 6 



Flour Rules as Applied to Farmers 

 Raising their Own Substitutes 



Soon after the new wheat conserva- 

 tion rules requiring consumers to pur- 

 chase a pound of permitted substitute 

 cereals with every pound of wheat flour 

 were promulgated, the question was 

 raised whether persons who had pro- 

 duced substitutes, such as corn, which 

 they were grinding or having ground 

 for their own personal consumption, 

 ought to be obliged to buy, with their 

 flour, the same amount of substitutes 

 required of other consumers. The Food 

 Administrator of Massachusetts, after 

 consultation with the United States Food 

 Administration and the Federal Food 

 Administrators of other states, has now 

 issued a statment permitting retailers 

 to sell to such consumers flour in reas- 

 onable amounts without the prescribed 

 amount of substitutes, provided the con- 

 sumers sign agreements to use for hu- 

 man consumption their own substitutes, 

 pound for pound with their flour, in 

 strict accordance with the rules of the 

 United States Food Administration. The 

 statement is as follows: 



TO ALL RETAIL DEALERS IN FLOUR IN 

 MASSACHUSETTS 



The Food Administration of Massa- 

 chusetts desires to adopt the fairest 

 possible plan with reference to persons 

 who have raised wheat substitutes and 

 have set them aside for their own per- 

 sonal consumption. It must, however, 

 be fully understood that every pound of 

 wheat flour which such persons buy 

 must be used along with the proper pro- 

 portion of substitutes, just as is done 

 by consumers who buy their substitutes. 

 You are requested to urge all customers 

 to utilize substitutes to the greatest ex- 

 tent. 



Until further notice, you will be per- 

 mitted to sell wheat flour in reasonable 

 amounts (not exceeding 70 per cent, of 

 normal consumption) to customers who 

 have raised substitute grains, if they 

 sign the following form, agreeing to use 

 their own substitutes for human con- 

 sumption, pound for pound, with the 

 flour they are purchasing: 



"I hereby certify that I have raised 

 and have on hand the amount of wheat 

 substitutes specified opposite my name. 



"With every pound of wheat flour 

 bought by me I hereby agree to use, for 

 strictly human consumption, the proper 

 amount of these substitutes, in strict ac- 

 cordance with the rules of the United 

 States Food Administration. 



"It is understood that this record 

 shall be ojien to inspection and verifi- 

 cation by the United States Food Ad- 

 ministration." 



Sugar 



Retail Dealers — Licensed and Un- 

 licensed 



1. Profits 



For the purpose of detemiining 

 whether in any case an unreasonable 

 profit on sugar has been obtained by re- 

 tail grocers, the Food Administration 

 will carefully investigate sugar sales by 

 retailers at an advance of more than 

 on cent per pound over the delivered 

 cost of sugar. If a smaller margin has 

 been obtained in pre-war times, that 

 margin should not be exceeded now. 

 This figure has been adopted by the 

 Food Administration as a tentative 

 guide in determining whether in any 

 particular case an unreasonable profit 

 has been exacted within the meaning of 

 the Act of August 10, 1917. Each case 

 will be pudged on its merits. 



2. Retail Quantities of Sugar. 



Sugar should be sold to town and city 

 customers in not more than two to five 

 pound quantities; to farm and rural 

 customers in not more than five to ten 

 pound quantities. 



Note. — Wheat substitutes comprise the 

 following: Corn meal, cornstarch, com 

 flour, hominy, corn grist, barley flour, 

 rice and rice flour, oatmeal, i-olled oats, 

 buckwheat flour, potato flour, .sweet po- 

 tato flour, soya bean flour and feterita 

 flour and meals. 



This arrangement is to be confined to 

 your regular customers unless in special 

 ease, to be passed, by our office. 



A sheet should be made for each cus- 

 tomer who has substitutes of his own 

 raising, providing spaces for a con- 

 siderable number of sales of flour. For 

 each purchase it is necessary that the 

 customer fill in the complete informa- 

 tion called for and sign his name. This 

 sheet is to be I'etained by you and to be 

 open to inspection by representatives of 

 the Food Administration. Blank sheets 

 of this kind will be supplied on request 

 to the office of the Food Administration, 

 State House, Boston. 



Substitutr 



D;iti- 



Amount 



Kind 



Amount 



of Wheat 



Floui- 



pui-- 



chased 



i^igniiture 



It is particularly important that you 

 make sure that each customer who 

 Concluded on page 5 



