168 Biographical Account of (Serr. 
fortunate things. attending his old age was to see the almost com- 
plete success of his perseverance. ‘‘ The potatoe has ‘now only 
friends,” he wrote in one of his last works, “ even in those cantons 
from which the spirit of system and contention seemed anxious to 
banish it for ever. 
But Parmentier was not one of those persons who occupy them- 
selves exclusively with one idea. The advantages which he had 
perceived in the potatoe did not make him neglect those offered by 
other vegetables. 
Maize, the plant which, next to the potatoe, gives the most eco- 
nomical food, is likewise a present of the New World, although in 
some places it is still obstinately called-Turkey corn. It was the 
principal food of the Americans when the Spaniards visited their 
coasts. It was. brought to Europe much earlier than the potatoe ; 
for Fuchs describes it, and gives a drawing of it, in 1543. It was 
likewise spread more quickly; and by giving to Italy, and our 
southern provinces, a new and abundant article of food, it has 
greatly contributed to enrich them, and to increase their popu- 
lation, 
Parmentier, therefore, in order to encourage its culture, had need 
only to explain, as he does in a very complete manner, the precau- 
tions which its cultivation requires, and the numerous uses to which 
it may be applied. He wished to exclude buck wheat, which is so 
inferior, from the few cantons where it is still cultivated. 
The acorn, which they say nourished our ancestors before they 
were acquainted with corn, is still very useful in some of our pro- 
vinces, chiefly about the centre of the kingdom. M. Daine, In- 
tendant of Limoges, induced Parmentier to examine whether it was 
not possible to make from it an eatable bread, and capable of being 
kept. His experiments were unsuccessful ; but they occasioned a 
complete treatise on the acorn, and on the different preparations of 
its food. 
Corn itself was an object of long study with him; and perhaps 
he has not been of less service in explaining the best methods of 
grinding and baking, than in spreading the cultivation of potatoes. 
Chemical analysis having informed him that bran contains no 
nourishment proper for man, he concluded that it was advantageous 
to exclude it from bread. He deduced from this the advantages of 
an economical method of grinding, which, by subjecting the grain 
-Tepeatedly to the mill and the sieve, detaches from the bran even 
the minutest particles of flour; and he proved likewise that it fur- 
nished, at a lower price, a white, agreeable, and more nutritive 
bread, Ignorance had so misunderstood the advantages of this 
, method, that laws had Jong existed to prevent it, and that the most 
“ precious part of the grain was given to the cattle along with the 
bran, : 
Parmentier studied with care every thing relating to bread; and 
because books would have been of little service to millers. and 
bakers, people who scarcely read any, he induced Government to 
