the
substitutes and lets them accumulate on her shelf has just so far
failed to co-operate with the Food Administration. Many a housewife
has learned the value of these cereals and will continue to use
them long after the war and the Food Administration have passed into
history.

A little thought will show the absence of any real burden in the 50-50
rule. A housekeeper for her family of four buys five pounds of wheat
flour and five pounds of other cereals. She may use 11/4 pounds of the
substitutes with the 5 pounds of wheat flour to make about 8 pounds of
Victory bread--sufficient to give each member of her family 2 pounds
of bread during the week. She may serve an ounce of oatmeal as the
breakfast cereal and an ounce of rice, hominy, or other cereal for
each person daily and will then have used all the substitutes. These
cereals can be made into an endless variety of quick breads, cakes,
and pastry, or combined with other foods as the main dish of the meal.

SUBSTITUTES FOR WHEAT FLOUR

The cereals on the market are varied enough to suit any taste.
REMEMBER THAT AS FAR AS NUTRITIONAL VALUE IS CONCERNED, IT MAKES
PRACTICALLY NO DIFFERENCE WHETHER WE EAT WHEAT OR OATS, RYE OR
BARLEY. The quantities of starch, protein, mineral matter, and fat
are so nearly the same that any one of them can take the place of
another. Oatmeal has a slight advantage over wheat both in protein
and fat, and since oats is an abundant crop in our country it is an
excellent substitute. Rice has a very little more starch and less
protein than the others.

There is just one advantage that wheat flour has over the other
cereals--it can be made into lighter and more durable bread. The
reason for this is given in the next chapter.

_Corn, the most abundant substitute._ Indian corn is native to the
United States. Since it carried the Pilgrims through their year
of famine, it has always been considered our national grain. Other
countries have adopted it to some extent, but more than three
quarters of the world's corn is grown here. In 1917 our corn crop was
3,000,000,000 bushels, four times as large as our wheat crop. Most
of the crop has always been used as a feed-grain, with only a small
percentage for human food. The South has always used much more corn
than the North, actually eating more corn than wheat.

The foods from corn and the ways of using them are more numerous than
is often appreciated. Corn meal and corn flour are the most impo