West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1915-09-16
WHAT UNCLE SAM IS DOING
FOR THE BUSY HOUSEkEEPER
Bulletins Gotten Out by the United
States Department of Agriculture
Are Valuable Aids to Women IN
the Home-All Should Have
Them

Mnat this calorie business the domes-
tic science folk rant over is all about Z?
la she just little ashamed To ask. and
then too. does she fear she wouldn't
quite understand the answer If she
did? Then let her write To the de-
partment of agriculture for Farmers
Bulletin No. 142. Most housekeepers
think of our national government
(when they think of il at alb as a
complex organization which creates
expensive offices for the purpose OF
paying large salaries. makes laws and
then sits back and discusses the war
situation in Europe and Mexico.
That it has a human side which di-
rectly concerns her never once enters
the average housekeeper's mind. And
yet the department OF agriculture will
furnish free to any woman who writes
for IL course in domestic science and
household economics which will at
once make her realize that home-mak-
ing and housekeeping is n real profess
sion, possessing dignity and requiring
skill and intelligence i'm its admins
tration. For 20 years this department
has been carrying on work which re-
lates directly to the home and it's ac-
tiyities. through the nutrition investi-
cations of the Office of experiment sta
tions. Early i'm the work the compo-
sition and nutritive value of the more
common American fOOdot,Us x,,aro -
vestigated, then came studies of the
kinds and amounts of food used by
American families of different occu-
pations and incomes. Many studies
have been made of the thoroighness
OF digestion of different foodstuffs and
the effect of cooking upon food as re-
CARDS its digestibility.
Right here Uncle Sam is meeting the
housekeeper upon her own ground. for
no matter who produces the food It is
she who must either cook it or super
intend its preparation for her family.
The Farmers Bulletin No. 142. en-
titled Principles of Nutrition and Nu-
tritlve Value OF Food" the American
woman has explained to her in the
simplest language just what she
should have in mind when supplying
her table. The pamphlet is not brist-
ling with unexplained technical terms
and after even a most casual reading
the average woman will know that a
calorie is not n commodity bought in
the market, but is simply term used
TO measure energy. She will feel on
intimate speaking terms with proteids
and carbohydrates, and their formid-
able names will never again frighten
her. In this particular bulletin she
will be told of digestion and the as
similation of food. the composition of
the common food materials, the advan-
tages of several meals a day, of the
needless use of expensive foods. the
waste OF food, of errors i'm cooking
and the danger of a one-sided diet.
As a beginning to a home course i'm
domestic science this little booklet is
excellent.
Then might come a little thought
on household equipment which has
been written OF by Helen w. Atwater.
The booklet is called Selection OF
Household Equipment" and has no
number. Next the housekeeper who
wants to learn will read of the care OF
food in the home. Farmers bulletin
No. 375 treats of this most important
subject and it will be particularly in
teresting because Il was prepared by
Baltimore woman, Mrs. Mary Hin
man Abel. herself a widely known
authority i'm household management.
In II she tells OF yeasts and their util-
ZatiOn. molds and their prevention.
bacteria and how TO control them. pto-
maine poison and polluted water. Flies
and food are discussed and then the
storage OF ali kinds OF food supplies
Is gone into. In the section devoted to
dishwashng Mrs Abel says: "The bac-
teriologist finds no kitchen clean
enough, and the ordinary methods of
washing dishes he is likely to call a
swear" The promiscuous use Of
paper bags i'm cookery Is also scored
and when the cooks need piece to
drain the crOquettes or line the cake
pan she IL urged to have at hand a roll
OF clean grocer's paper on It's frame.
Sugar and It's Value O. a 9ood" is
another bulletin prepared by Mrs.
Abel.
And then Uncle Sam gets down to
brass tacks, for when all is said and
done IT Is the ac;Ial cooking an
planning which aprcql to the avera se
housekeeper. There arc dozens OF
pamphi9is dealing with food products
and ways OF cooking them. For in-
stance, how many Kingwood house
wives have 50 tested recipes Of corn.
meal dishes? Bulletin 5G5 contains
that number. with a most interesting
treatise on cornmeal They comprise
cornmeal and meat dishes. various de
licious mushes. breads and desserts
The breads include such well known
ones as Virginia spoonbread and corn.
meal and hominy bread and the lesser
known Zuni Indian bread as prepared
BY the Indians. Cornmeal and orang,
gingerbread is particularly good, as II
fruit gems made of cornmeal.
To develop. the economical side o
the housekeeper seems to be Uncl,
Sans aim. and bulletin 4S7 tells o
Cheese and It's Economical Uses fl