ESSAYS 123 



In almost all conditions of life the provision of flour for bread-making is of 

 vital necessity. In normal circumstances the cereal crops meet this need, but, 

 under special conditions brought about by, failure of crops or imports, native 

 substitutes have to be pressed into service. As a general rule, these substitutes 

 are used to supplement the ordinary flour, but on occasion they have beenused 

 by themselves. The rhizomes of couch-grass have been used in this way ; in 

 Italy a kind of arrowroot has been prepared from them, 1 and during the Thirty 

 Years War and the Great War the rhizomes were dried and ground into flour 

 for bread-making. Flour substitutes have also been prepared from the roots 

 oi sowthistle {Sonchus oleraceus) and silverweed {Potentilla anserina), and bread 

 made from common sorrel {Rumex acetosa) is said to be used by the Swedish poor 

 when the barley or rye crops are deficient. 3 The Swedish also claim to have been 

 successful during the war in preparing flour from timothy {Phleum pratense), 

 which was ground and mixed with rye meal in the proportion of 1:4. In the same 

 country a company has recently been formed for the manufacture of " artificial 

 flour" from such natural products as water-lilies, wild leguminous plants, and the 

 roots or rhizomes of such plants as reeds and couch-grass. Heather is also 

 utilised, a certain amount of albumen, carbohydrate and fat being added, giving 

 a product that has proved very satisfactory for bread-making. Yet another 

 Swedish substitute is said to be prepared from the leaves (needles) of coniferous 

 trees, which, when mixed with equal quantities of rye-flour, yields a bread of softer 

 and more porous texture than pure rye-bread, while it is free from any objection- 

 able taste. Horse-chestnuts have been exported from Sweden to Germany for 

 the preparation of flour by special methods of treatment. 



Serviceable flour substitutes can be prepared from the seeds of certain weeds, 



especially from spurrey {Spergula arvensis) and species of Chenopodium. In 



northern countries, as Finland and Norway, spurrey grows freely and well, and 



the seeds have often been ground and mixed with wheat or rye-flour. 3 In South 



America a species of goose-grass {Chenopodium quinoa), has been cultivated 



for centuries as a bread plant, as the seeds can be ground into a good flour. 4 



Of recent years the plant has been introduced into Germany for the same 



purpose, with considerable success. The common weed fathen {Chenopodium 



album) is very closely related to the quinoa, and occasionally its seeds have been 



used in a similar way when emergency has arisen, as in the Russian famine 



of 1 89 1-2. 5 Lichens have also been exploited abroad for bread-making purposes, 



the most useful being those of the Cetraria family, including Iceland Moss and 



varieties that the Scandinavians call " Snolav " and " Tralov.'' The colouring 



matter and bitter substances are removed from the lichens, and the soluble 



substances, amounting to about 75 per cent, are dissolved out. It is claimed 



that these form a kind of jelly which can be used for bread-making, as much 



as three parts of jelly to two parts of flour being employed, yielding a bread 



which is said to be more nutritious than ordinary rye-bread. The jelly serves 



other useful purposes, as it can be used for preserving fruit, thus effecting a 



saving of more than half the amount of sugar usually required. 



A few other wild plants are used for food without being made into bread. 

 Salep, a preparation of the root of the early orchis {Orchis mascula), is probably 



1 Wilson, Rural Cyclopaedia, 1847. 



s Pratt, A., Flowering Plants, Grasses, and Ferns oj Great Britain. 



3 Wilson, ibid. 



4 Hanansek, T. F., Zeitsch. fur untersuch. der Nahrungs una Geniissmittel. 

 29, pp. 17-25, 1915. 



5 Ibid, 



