124 FARM HOMES, IN-DOORS AND OUT-DOORS. 

 OATMEAL. 



" Next to wheat," says Dr. Nichols, " I rank Oatmeal." 

 It is very rich in nutriment, and with the accompani- 

 ment of the pure milk and cream which every farmer 

 has at hand, it is so nice and palatable it is a wonder it 

 is not a familiar form of food in every American farm- 

 house. And yet, after many visits to the country, one 

 of the good things which I hail with delight on my re- 

 turn to the city, is a breakfast saucer of oatmeal mush 

 and real cream, surmounted with a slowly-dissolving 

 lump of crushed sugar ! 



Far more expensive dishes are heaped upon the tables 

 of these good and generous country friends. There is 

 no lack of preserves, fruit-cake, rich pies, and the like ; 

 but the good, healthful, simple offerings of nature the 

 grains cooked in their "integrity," the noble army of 

 vegetables nicely prepared, the creamy omelettes, the 

 best fruits, the perfect bread, the fragrant amber coffee 

 how very queer that one finds these things on twenty ta- 

 bles in the city where he finds them on one table in the 

 country ! the place where, with the exception of a very 

 few foreign articles, everything necessary for the best and 

 most healthful living abounds on every hand. Farm- 

 homes should not be subservient, as they often are, par- 

 ticularly in the West, to mere wheat and pork raising. 

 They should have more fruits, larger varieties of vegeta- 

 bles, and more intelligent and healthful methods of pre- 

 paring foods. 



One little move in this direction might be a morning 

 dish of oatmeal mush (or oat grits, as it might more 

 properly be called), with an accompaniment of good, 

 rich milk, and a sprinkle of sugar, in place of the almost 

 universal " fried pork " with which country people break 

 their fast. It is net only palatable and nourishing to 



