PUBLICATIONS ON AGRICULTURAL BOTANY IN FRANCE. 949 



composition of various Bordeaux vines and their cultural requirements. 

 In a note on the manufacture of hydromel Dufour ' has shown tliat 

 pure honey does not contain sufficient nitrogen for the most favorable 

 development of the organisms of fermentation, and he recommends the 

 addition of some nitrogenous substance, such as pei)tone, to aid in 

 complete fermentation. 



Fleurcnt'^ hns studied quite extensively the composition of various 

 cereals. He has found that gluten owes its adhesiveness to librin-gluten, 

 the casein-gluten giving solidity and playing the role of an inert material 

 in the mass. These conclusions agree with those already arrived 

 at by Osborne and Voorhees.' The author has examined rye, maize, 

 rice, barley, and buckwheat for these two substances. He has also 

 given a chemical method for improving the baking value of wheat flour.^ 

 Whatever the amount of gluten in a flour the bread from it will be of 

 better (juality and more easily digested when the proportion of glutenin 

 and giiadiu in the gluten a])proaches the rsitio of 1:3. If the propor- 

 tion should be 1 to 4 the bread becomes soggy after baking and the loaf 

 contains too much water. If the ratio should be 1:2 the flour works 

 poorly and the bread is indigestible. A variation of 2 per cent either 

 way from the typical composition is said to be readily detected by 

 experts. He has found that the wheat embryo contains concentric 

 deposits of gluten in which the proportion of glutenin and gliadin vary 

 greatly. The results of investigations by Balland^ on the quantity of 

 gluten in flour accord with those given above by Fleurent. Diffierent 

 sanq)les of flour having the same nitrogen content vary in their gluten 

 content according to the method of grinding and bolting. The quan- 

 tity of gluten, which is an index to the quality of flour, is not a suffi- 

 cient guide to its nitrogen content nor its nutritive value. Balland*' 

 has reported on the chemical composition of the grain of indigenous 

 and foreign varieties of maize and has also published a very important 

 article" on varieties of wheat. He has given in the Eeinie du Service 

 de V Intend mice Militaire the results of analyses of .'500 varieties of 

 wheat, from which he draws the following conclusions: There is no 

 relation between the average weight of individual grains and the race 

 or variety, soft, hard, and medium races having the same average 

 weights. There is no general relation between the average weight of 

 the individual grains and the weight of a bushel except that the latter 

 decreases somewhat as the average weight decreases. Hard wheats as 

 a rule contain the highest amount of fats. The amount of flour which 



' Assoc. Fr. Av. Sci., Congrt'>8 de Carthage, 189t5, p. 235. 

 2 Compt. Rend., 123 ( 18%), i>. 327. 

 :' Ainer. Chcm. .lour., 1.") ( 1S<»3) No. 6, pp. 392-471. 

 -•Corupt. Reud.,213 (1896), p. 755. 

 - '■'Ibid., p. 13H. 



« Compt. H<ii<l., 122 (1890), p. 1004. 

 •Ibid., 123 (1896), p. 1303. 



(;51)_Xo. 11 2 



