1882.] * TOOLS, IMPLEMENTS, ETC. 319 



New England was never much of a grain -growing region. Corn 

 grew well, but wheat did not, compared with its growth in the 

 colonies west and south of us. Its cultivation was encouraged in 

 every way then possible, but nevertheless wheat was not abun- 

 dant. I have taken much pains to look this matter up. 



It must be borne in mind, that at the time of the settlement of 

 the New England colonies, and indeed long after, wheat bread was 

 a luxury over most of the world. Throughout Europe barley and 

 rye were the chief bread-plants. Barley first, and rye following 

 next. Wheat was for the rich, and this remained the condition 

 of things until well into the present century, when old restric- 

 tions on commerce in breadstuffs were relaxed, or entirely re- 

 moved, and new methods of producing, handling, and trans- 

 porting grains were devised. Now, when everybody we know 

 eats wheat bread every day, and at every meal, it is hard to appre- 

 ciate how very modern this blessing is. Only this very week, a 

 cultivated English lady of middle age, told me that barley bread 

 was common in her younger days in that part of England where 

 she Hved. The bread of the common people, and the coarse bread 

 of the rich was made of mixed grains, and mostly of the coarse 

 grains, as the " black bread " of all Continental Europe is to-day. 



Here let me digress to explain. When I say that "wheat 

 bread " was a luxury, I mean bread made of fine wheat flour 

 alone. All our cereal grains contain certain nitrogenous com- 

 pounds, to which chemists give the general name of Albuminoids. 

 They are the most costly of the elements of vegetable food. In 

 wheat, these albuminoids consist mostly of what is called gluten, 

 and this gives that character to the flour which enables us to make 

 light bread of it. The albuminoids of the other grains are per- 

 haps equally nutritious, but they have this special quahty in a 

 much less marked degree. Rye follows next to wheat, then Indian 

 corn, then barley, then oats and buckwheat, and lastly rice. From 

 the last three of these, we cannot make a light bread at all. Oat- 

 meal may be as nutritious as wheat flour, as rich in albuminoids, 

 but it is so diflScult to make light bread of it that most authorities 

 say that it cannot be done. Some Scotch authorities, however, 

 say that a reasonably light bread can be made of a good Scotch 

 oatmeal by a skillful Scotch housewife. Now. wheat flour and 

 wheat meal are ingredients used in many coarse breads to make 

 them lighter and more easily digestible. Rye is used for the same 

 purpose. Barley bread is so heavy of itself that barley meal is 



