LESSON XVIII. cost of FOOD, CLOTHING, AND HOUSE. SUBJECT MATTER. It is of great importance that all children learn the value of property in an elementary way. This will prepare them for the knowledge of the cost of living that is essential. They can learn that the cost of food can be decreased by keeping gardens and by proper choice, care, and handling of foods; that care of clothing will reduce this item of expense; and that the owning of one's own house and lot is something worth working for in order to reduce the cost of rent. PRELIMINARY PLAN. The teacher will have to acquaint herself thoroughly with conditions in the community so that she can talk intelligently with the girls, emphasize the right points, and give them constructive help. METHOD OF WORK. Begin with a discussion of the cost of food; how much the children earn or spend during the week; and why it is worth while to cook and sew well, and look after property. Continue such discussions from time to time in connection with other school work. LESSON XIX. HOW TO KEEP ACCOUNTS. SUBJECT MATTER. It is well for one to keep a written record of all money received and all money spent. Children should be taught to do this as soon as they are big enough to have money in their possession. A simple little notebook in which all expenditures are entered on the right side and all receipts on the left side, with the balance drawn up each week or month will prove an easy and satisfactory method of keeping accounts. If the little girl learns to do this with her pennies, she will be better able to take care of the more important household accounts when she is in charge of a home. However, there will be no good incentive for her to keep accounts unless she is endeavoring to save for some good purpose. If she learns to save for the future purchase of a book, a dress, or some little treat, she will feel that her account keeping is worth while. As a housekeeper she will appreciate the importance of saving for some future good to the family— a better house, school for the children, etc. PRELIMINARY PLAN. In order to make the lesson on keeping accounts of vital interest, introduce it at a time when the girls in the class are saving for some specific purpose-material for a dress to be made in sewing class, refreshments for a party for their mothers, a school library, or something else that will be a pleasure and help in school work. METHOD OF WORK. After discussing the possible sources of income of the girl and of her family, and the means of increasing and taking care of that income, discuss simple methods of keeping accounts, illustrate them on the blackboard, show how to balance the accounts, and see that cach girl has a small book for the purpose. It may be necessary to make or to rule this book as a portion of the class exercise. LESSON XX. CARE OF THE EXTERIOR OF THE HOUSE. SUBJECT MATTER. Closely allied to the housekeeper's work within the home is the care of the exterior of the house and its surroundings. It is absolutely necessary that the grounds be kept neat and clean. In addition to this they should be made attractive by the careful selection of a few shrubs rightly placed. While the gardens at the rear of the house may be planned solely for the pleasure and use of the family, in planning the lawn at the sides and front of the house the neighbors and passers-by must be considered. The grounds should be a picture of which the home is the center, the shrubs being grouped to frame the picture. In order to do this, the center of the yard should be left open with an occasional tree or shrub, so placed and pruned that it will not hide the house. Shrubs and vines should be planted close to the house to break the severe line between the house and lawn, and so utilized as to hide the sheds. The arrangement and varieties of shrubs and vines should harmonize both at the front and sides of the house. One, two, or three kinds should be chosen as a basis. If a shrub is planted at one corner of the house, the same variety should be planted at the other end. Similarly, the same sort of vine should be planted on both sides of the front porch. Care should be taken that vines do not cut off the supply of light and air from the interior of the house. The following list of shrubs and vines for planting close to the house may be suggestive: Shrubs: Barberry, deutzia, forsythia, hydrangea, Japanese quince, dwarf euonymus, lilac, privet, spirea, snowball, cape jasmine, sweet shrub. Vines: Boston ivy, clematis, English ivy, honeysuckle, wistaria, climbing roses, climbing euonymus. The center of the lawn should be left free of unnecessary walks, drives, piles of stones, or pieces of statuary. A few flowers should be planted among the shrubs to give color at different seasons. The exterior of the house itself must be considered, if the picture framed by the shrubs and vines is to be a pleasing one. The house should be painted in a soft brown or dark green to blend with the landscape of oaks and pines. The paint will help to preserve the house, but its color must be carefully chosen in order to give a pleasing effect. The back yard should be used for vegetable gardens with flower borders. For this purpose a deep, rich soil is necessary and every square foot of space should be utilized. Every family should learn to make use of an increased number of vegetables and fruits and to cook them in a variety of ways. No crops should be allowed to go to waste. Intensive 12-months gardening should be practiced. A family of five people could be entirely provided with vegetables from a garden less than 75 by 50 feet. With the exception of sweet peas, all flowers needed for picking purposes should be grown in the flower borders in the back yard. Sweet peas should be planted in rows in the vegetable section. The attractiveness, as well as the usefulness, of the flower borders depends upon the choice and arrangement of flowers. The flowers should be chosen as to height of plants, color of blooms, and seasons of blooming. The tallest plants should be placed at the back of the border; for a border 6 feet wide none of the plants need be over 5 feet. There can be a riot of colors if the flowers are arranged in clumps of four to six throughout the entire length of the border. In a wellplanned flower border some flowers should be in bloom each month. Hardy perennial flowers should predominate, with enough annual flowers to fill up the spaces and hide the soil. A surprisingly large number of plants will be needed. Perennial flowers should be started in seed beds in March and the plants transplanted into the flower borders in October. Annual flowers should be started in flats in early spring and the plants transplanted into the flower borders in April. The well-tried, old-fashioned flowers will give the best satisfaction. Every four years the flower borders need to be spaded, well manured, and replanted. LISTS OF FLOWERS FOR BORDERS. Perennials.-Bleeding heart, carnations, chrysanthemums, columbine, coreopsis, dahlias, gaillardias, golden glow, iris, larkspur, oriental poppies, peonies, phlox, pinks, platycodon, snapdragon. Biennials.-Forget-me-not, foxglove, Canterbury bells, hollyhock, sweet-william, wallflower. Annuals.-African daisy, ageratum, aster, calendula, calliopsis, balsam, candytuft, cornflower, cosmos, marigold, mignonette, nasturtium, petunia, poppy, stock, sweet alyssum, sweet pea, verbena, zinnia, annual phlox, red sunflower, cut-and-comeagain sunflower. Each home gardener will need to study garden literature to help solve the garden problems, for the day has passed when one needs only to scratch the soil with a shell, plant the seeds and receive an abundant crop. To-day successful gardening depends upon intelligent management of the soil and crop, and upon persistent labor. 95619°-BULL. 23-17-3 The Department of Agriculture at Washington, D. C., publishes many helpful farm bulletins that may be secured free of charge. Many State experiment stations publish bulletins on vegetable growing. These bulletins are sent free of charge to the people within the State on application to the director of the experiment station. A few of the bulletins published by southern experiment stations are: The Home Vegetable Garden.-Virginia Truck Experiment Station, Norfolk, Va. Truck Growing in North Carolina.-Department of Agriculture, Raleigh, N. C. Vegetable Gardening.-Georgia Experiment Station, Experiment, Ga. Farm Gardens.-Division of Extension, College of Agriculture, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tenn. Books on gardening that are useful for the home garden. Card. Bush Fruits." Price, $1.50. The Macmillan Co., New York City. Ely. "A Woman's Hardy Garden." Price, $1.75. The Macmillan Co., New York French. "The Beginner's Garden Book." Price, $1. The Macmillan Co., New York City. Lloyd. "Productive Vegetable Garden." Price, $1.50. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia. The United States Bureau of Education through its division of school and home gardens sends out literature and gives direct assistance to those schools that wish to have the home-garden work carried on by their pupils. PRELIMINARY PLAN. The teacher should visit the homes of all the children in order to make herself familiar with the condition in which their grounds are kept. She may be able to secure permission from one of the housekeepers to use her grounds for the practice place for the lesson, or it may be more desirable to give this lesson at the school and to conduct a school garden as a model home garden. METHOD OF WORK. Discuss the arrangement and care of the home or school grounds. Have the class clean up the lawn and garden chosen for the lesson, supervising the work carefully. Assign the cleaning up of the home lawns or work in the home gardens for the coming week. Let this lesson serve as a means of interesting the girls in home gardening, if that has not already been taken up, or of emphasizing the relation of gardening to the housekeeper's work if they are already interested in gardening. TWENTY LESSONS IN COOKING. For the Rural Schools. OUTLINE OF THE COURSE. Lesson I. Discussion of foods and cooking. Management of the kitchen stove. Cooking by dry heat. Baked vegetables or fruit. Lesson II. Water and mineral matter in vegetables. How to prepare and serve uncooked vegetables, lettuce, cress, cabbage, etc. Cooking by moist heat. How to boil, season, and serve beet tops, turnip tops, cabbage sprouts, kale, spinach, or other vegetable greens. Lesson III. The value of carbohydrates in the diet. Potatoes as a source of carbohydrates. The choice, cost, care, composition, food value, and cooking of sweet potatoes and white potatoes. Baked squash. Steamed squash. Lesson IV. Fruits-their food value and use. Reasons and rules for canning. How to can and use such vegetables as beets, beans, tomatoes, and carrots, and such fruits as figs, grapes, muscadines, apples, and peaches. The drying of fruits and vegetables. Lesson V. Fats and oils. Vegetables, continued. Preparation of white sauce to serve with vegetables. How to boil, season, and serve such vegetables as lima or butter beans, string beans, cowpeas, onions, okra, cabbage, collards, corn, beets, turnips, or carrots. Lesson VI. Cereals-kinds, composition, care, and general rules for cooking. Oatmeal, cracked wheat, hominy grits, corn-meal mush, or rice. Fruits to serve with cereals-stewed prunes, stewed apples, or apple sauce. Lesson VII. Classification of foods, reviewed. Lesson VIII. The planning and serving of meals. Lesson IX. Milk. Care, cost, and food value of milk. The value and use of sour milk-cottage cheese clabber. Rice or corn starch pudding (plain, caramel, or chocolate). Lesson X. Soups. Cream soups. Cream of carrot, potato, or onion soup; green pea or cowpea soup. Toast, croutons, or crisp crackers to serve with soup. Lesson XI. Eggs. Food value and general rules for cooking. Eggs cooked in shell, poached, scrambled and omelet. Lesson XII. Simple desserts. Custards. Lesson XIII. Batters. Corn bread and hoe cake. Lesson XIV. Batters (continued). Methods of making batters light. Use of sour milk and soda. Egg corn pone and corn muffins. Baking-powder biscuits. Lesson XV. Meat. Composition and food value. How to make tough cuts palatable. Pork chops with fried apples. Beef or mutton stew with vegetables and dumplings. Rabbit stew. Bacon. Lesson XVI. Baked pork and beans or baked cowpeas. Corn dodgers. Lesson XVII. Butter cakes. Plain yellow cake. Cocoa, coffee, tea. Lesson XVIII. Yeast bread. Lesson XIX. Serving simple dinners without meat. Baked omelet, macaroni and cheese. Lesson XX. Sugar. Food value and cooking. The use of peanuts in candy. Peanut cookies, or peanut, molasses, or fudge candies, to be made for a special entertainment. SUGGESTIONS FOR THE TEACHER. The teacher should learn how the children in her school live in their own homes, what foods they use, what foods they raise, and how they prepare and serve their foods. The instruction given in the lessons should be based on this knowledge. Possibilities for the improvement of accepted methods should be considered. Those foods should be used in the recipes which the children can afford to use at home. They should be encouraged to raise other foods in their gardens and to keep chickens, pigs, and cows. |