No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 253 



process. We have so mauy different kinds of flour at tlie present 

 time. Many are the liinds of gluten, whole wheat, and wheat flour, 

 and many are the cereal foods on the market today. And, by the 

 way, in passing to these cylinder mills, I want to say this: so many 

 of you depend so thoroughly upon your cereal foods that you think 

 you must have them at least once a day. Some of you get the steam- 

 cooked cereal foods, which are supposed to require no more cooking. 

 They should, however, be steamed again from a half to three 

 quarters of an hour. Don't even try to take them without first 

 steaming them again. They are too tough for the human stomach 

 to digest. Make them dry and crisp if you intend to have the 

 stomach digest them. Then, it is absolutely necessary for people 

 to masticate their foods thoroughly in order to digest them. 

 Another evil we have acquired is the habit of hasty eating. Our 

 teeth were given us for the purpose of thoroughly masticating our 

 foods, and in order to keep both the teeth and the human stomach 

 in good condition, it is necessary to use them properly. 



Shredded Wheat biscuit is prepared by putting the whole wheat, 

 after it is cleansed, into a boiler, where it is steam-cooked until 

 the grains are twice their size, and then it goes from the boiler into 

 the shredding machine. Here the fine teeth catch it, and spin it 

 out like threads. The wheat goes through two processes of this 

 machine until it comes out in the form of the shredded wheat bis- 

 cuit, and this is why it is so light and porous. It is a very good 

 cereal food, and sometimes makes a very good substitute for bread. 

 Steam it first, the same as other cereals, and make it perfectly dry. 



Starch grains differ in size very much. Here we have the rice, 

 and here the wheat, here the oats, and here the starch. Here we 

 see how they look when they are packed closely together. This is 

 the interior of a grain of wheat. Then, cornstarch, as fine as it 

 seems, if put under a powerful glass, shows the average grain very 

 well, indeed. In the corn and wheat we have a substance that la 

 not found in the other cereal foods. This is the reason why the 

 wheat flour is used in bread-making. The gluten will extend, and 

 gradually take in a great deal of air pressure. Baking-powder and 

 yeast iu bread making form a carbonic acid gas, and by adding 

 them, we get what we call a well-raised loaf of bread, due to the 

 accumulation of gas in the flour. The gluten is the pure part of 

 the wheat flour, aud that is why the entire wheat flour is such a 

 very desirable food. We have in this row of cells that surround 

 the grain of wheat a tissue builder that is excellent in case of 

 kidney trouble, and helps, in a broken down system, to build up 

 the tissues of the body very readily. Then we have another row 

 of cells surrounding the gluten cells; they contain the mineral 

 substances. It is very unfortunate that the bran should be lost in 

 the preparation of the flour. It contains many of the elements 

 necessary to build up the tissues of the body. Sometimes it is used 

 in making up certain crackers for the live stock; you see, live 

 stock always gets the best part of the food. As I have said before, 

 we give it more consideration than we do our own human bodies. 

 The same thing holds true with potato peelings. Bleached flour 

 always interests me. The manufacturers tell us that the public 

 calls for it, but they put it up for sale, and you can't get anything 



