Food and health

Sugar from the farm. When the home-making class at the Pleasant Valley School studied the question of sugar and sweet cakes, Miss James talked about the use of maple sugar in place of the cane or beet sugar that we buy. There is a sugar-maple grove on the Allen farm, and the pupils were invited to a '' sugaring off,'' when the time came for making the sugar and sirup. ^ Mrs. Allen has the old-fashioned habit of using maple sugar at the table for cereals, for berries and fruit, and even for coffee and tea ; she finds it useful in cooking, also. It is worth while to set out sugar maples, for they grow as far south as Texas, as well as in the eastern states, middle west, and northwest. Why not keep bees .? We may make sugar in the home grounds, and employ honeybees to do the work. A few hives are not difficult to care for, and the bees will more than repay us for our labor. Using honey in place of cane sugar. Honey is delicious on cereal and bread. We are experimenting with its use in cooking, a practice common in old times, ^ See Farmers' Bulletin No. 516, and Bureau of Forestry Bulletin No. 59, U. S. Department of Agriculture. especially in Europe. It may be used in cakes, cookies, and desserts. There is an acid in honey, and, therefore, it can take the place of molasses in some recipes. Soft honey cakes.^ What and how much. Butter J cup Honey i cup Egg I Sour milk \ cup Soda I teaspoonful Cinnamon \ teaspoonful Ginger \ teaspoonful Flour 4 cups How to make. Rub the butter and honey together; add the egg well beaten, the milk and the flour sifted with soda and spices. Bake in a shallow pan. 1. Explain why a dry, well-baked muffin is better than a fresh griddlecake. 2. Study the two rules for cake and see how many variations you can make. 3. Describe the baking of a loaf of cake. 4. Why is it better not to eat sweet cake at every meal ? 5. Explain why sugar, which is a good food, can do us harm. Lesson 16 clearing up Have you ever wished at the end of a meal for a good fairy like one of those in the stories who waves a wand : ** Presto" — and table and dishes vanish ? Can. "clearing up" after supper be made pleasant ? ^ See Farmers' Bulletin No. 653 for this and other recipes with honey. There are some people who like to wash dishes. For the rest of us there is nothing to do but to make an art of cleaning up thoroughly, quickly, and cheerfully. One of our great writers, Mr. William James, tells us that when we feel unhappy, if we behave as if we were cheerful, all at once we shall find that we really are cheerful ! Try it when it is dish-washing time. ^ When dish washing is done well, it is really a pretty piece of work. When we hurry through and it is badly done, — the dishes, spoons, and forks are left " sticky,*' the sink greasy, the towels unclean, — what more unpleasant task ! Here is something to remember at the very beginning of our talks about cleanliness. Nothing can be halfclean. A thing is either clean, or it is not ; and when it is not clean it is " dirty.'' If one spot of spilled food is left anywhere, how soon that one fly finds it ! The importance of cleanliness. Cleanliness is not only beautiful and comfortable, but it is an enemy of ill health, sickness, disease. When we study sanitation, which we hear about so often, we are studying how to keep clean ; and that is all. The word sanitation comes from a Latin word meaning " health." You cannot see what this has to do with dish washing ? Sore throats and other sicknesses will go from one member of a family to another on half-washed spoons, forks, cups ; and a musty dishcloth or mop may be a source of illness. What does cleaning up after a meal mean ? It means putting the uneaten food neatly away ; collecting the