> CEREAL BREAKFAST FOODS. 85 



improved method of milling- corn is now coming into use by 

 which the kernel is degerminated before being ground, the result 

 being a product of much better keeping qualities. 



Oats. The analysis of rolled oats given in the above table 

 may be accepted as representing the composition of the kernel 

 when deprived of its outer woody coating. In this condition 

 their nutritive properties are in excess of those of any other of 

 our common cereals. They contain one-third more protein than 

 wheat and nearly four times as much fat. On the other hand 

 they contain less starch than wheat; but since starch possesses 

 a much lower nutritive value than protein and fat, the oats must 

 be considered the more nutritious. 



Rice is the poorest in proteids and ash of the cereals here con- 

 sidered and is correspondingly rich in starch. In China and the 

 East Indies it forms the principal food of the poorer classes and 

 failure of the rice crop would mean famine to at least one-third 

 of the human race. In this country it is more generally culti- 

 vated than formerly, but its consumption is still largely in excess 

 of the domestic production. 



Wheat is by far the most important of our cereals, since it is 

 the only one of the proteids of which form a true gluten, the 

 peculiar tenacity of which makes a leavened or "raised" bread 

 possible. This property in itself must forever distinguish wheat 

 as the bread-making cereal par excellence. Quite aside from 

 this, however, the nutritive value of wheat must place it in the 

 front rank of vegetable foods. In protein content it is excelled 

 only by hulled oats. 



COMPOSITION OF CEREAL BREAKFAST FOODS. 



During the past few years a large number of cereal breakfast 

 foods has been placed upon the market and the number is con- 

 stantly increasing. 



The composition of many of these goods is given in the tables 

 which follow. In the first two tables, pages 86-7, are sum- 

 marized the analyses of the brands collected three years ago and 

 reported in Bulletin 55 of this Station. All the other analyses 

 here given are of new samples collected during the past few 

 months, for the most part in Bangor and Portland. The list 

 does not profess to include all the goods then obtainable, though 

 the omissions are probably few. 



