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pay for the provisions and fertilizers purchased last spring, for which, 
in many cases, the crop was mortgaged. This system still embarrasses 
cotton production in several of the cotton States. 
PERPETUATING VARIETIES OF SEED.—The Bledsoe County, Tennessee, 
Farmers’ and Mechanical Association has adopted the very judicious 
' plan of requiring every member who has received seeds for experimental 
purposes, (those transmitted by this Department,) to return at least as 
much to the society as the quantity received, if the experiment turns 
out favorably. In addition to the convenience of having the seeds of 
valuable varieties on hand for seasonable distribution, the advantages 
of gradually acclimatizing seeds are gained, As opposed to this provi- 
dent method, a Virginia correspondent cites the fact, that in his neigh- 
borhood many persons are always anxious to get choice varieties of seeds 
when first introduced, with grave promise of submitting them to the 
fairest tests; but, the novelty having worn off, or indifference to the 
objects of the distribution supervening, nothing more is heard of them, 
unless, perhaps, in some cases where the farmer, not having been dili- 
gent and conscientious in cultivating the seeds, meets failure, and de- 
nounces what he has received as worthless. In this connection a printed 
circular of the Department touching the subject may be quoted, for the 
information of a large class who apply for seeds: 
The object of the Department is to distribute seeds as widely as possible; and, if 
they prove valuable, it is expected that their product will be saved and distributed to 
others by the first recipient. It is impossible, therefore, to supply many persons in 
the same vicinity, nor will those who do not save the seed, as above suggested, be en- 
titled to further supplies. 
GLUTEN GRANULES.—Mr. Nahum E. Ballou, secretary of the Union 
Agricultural Institute, at Sandwich, Illinois, furnishes the Department 
with the following notice of a discovery by which an element of wheat, 
hitherto cast away in the bran, has been rendered available for a very 
useful purpose. The discoverer, who is a Frenchman, and a resident of 
Minneapolis, Minnesota, gives to the product in question the name of 
gluten granules. Mr. Ballou says: 
The gluten granule has been found, upon experiment, to be the most valuable pro- 
duct of wheat, because most nutritious. Mr. Janen, the discoverer, and others asso- 
ciated with him, have already secured patents of machinery whereby this element may 
be successfully separated from the offal of the mill, which has hitherto been considered ° 
of little value. The product is most abundant in hard and flinty varieties of wheat, 
which, when ground by a process known among millers as high grinding, takes only 
from the wheat the very best quality of flour; then the process of separating the gluten 
granules is conducted by means of separators devised to receive the offal, and elimi- 
nate the most valuable portion of the wheat, which is in the form of minute granules. 
These granules are then ground into fine flour, and prove to be more valuable for 
bread than the flour originally taken out; for the reason, undoubtedly, ¢hat nitrogen 
exists largely in this portion, constituting the glutinous element. It is, in fact, this 
separated element that gives toughness and tenacity to flour, which exists more 
abundantly in some than in other brands, rendering it atonce available in cookery for 
viscid pastes, macaroni, and vermicelli. It is the very element for supplying the waste 
of the tissues of our bodies, and hence this product is now being*eagerly sought for on 
account of its valuable properties. Probably it has also a tinge of the phosphates, 
said to be incorporated largely with the bran. Bread made from this new element is 
decidedly more nutritious than bread made from the common flour, while it is moister, 
and, withal, pleasanter to the taste. The writer of this has occasionally seen hints 
during many years that the most valuable portion of the separated elements of wheat 
was diverted from its legitimate use. As an evidence that these ideas or hints were 
not without foundation, we instance that bran fed freely to a milch-cow not only im- 
proves the quality, but the quantity of milk also. This lately-ascertained property, 
valuable as an element of food, and hitherto considered of little value, is likely to as- 
sume a prominent place in the world’s exchange as an article of commercial value ; 
nor will millers fail to secure an additional profit in the manufacture of flour by at- 
tention to it. 
DA 
