RYE. 177 



contains more g-luten than the soft and more friable wheat of the 

 north ; and the inquiries of M. Payen appear to hear out the conchi- 

 sion of the illustrious English chemist. M. Payen, in fact, foimd in 

 the hard wheat of Africa 3.00 of azote, equivalent to 18.7 ; and in 

 that of Venezuela 3.50 of azote, equivalent to 21.9 of gluten and 

 alhumen. The experiments quoted above, however, prove that we 

 may have w4ieat grown in Europe fully as rich in azotized elements 

 as any that is grown between the tropics ; the influence of the soil 

 in this direction is probably more than the influence of climate. 



In all the analyses of wheaten and other flour published up to the 

 present time, we find no mention made of the fatty matters which 

 they contain ; and late views in regard to the special part which 

 these matters play in nutrition make it very necessary to supply the 

 omission. A ong with MM. Dumas and Payen, I therefore deter- 

 mined the qucntity of fatty matter contained in a considerable num- 

 ber of the vegetables and vegetable substances used as food, from 

 which it appears that grain of different kinds contains from 2 to 10 

 per cent, of oil. One hundred parts of winter wheat gathered at 

 Bechelbronn lost 14.5 of water by drying at 110" C, (230" F.,) and 

 therefore contained 85.5 of dry matter. 100 of this dry wheat gave 

 137 of bran and 86.3 of flour. 



Various analyses showed the composition of this wheat and its 

 parts to be as follows : 



Dry matter. Gliileii aiiU Starch. 



Albumen. 



Bran 200 



Flour 13.4 73.2 



Wheat 14.3 63.2 



Rye, {Secale cereale.) Rye is an important article or food, par- 

 ticularly in the north of Europe, where the people live upon it almost 

 entirely. It is a very hardy plant, and will thrive in soils which are 

 altogether unfit to grow wheat. In the husbandry of the north this 

 grain occupies the place of wheat in the south ; it requires much 

 the same treatment, and stands upon tlie ground for nearly the same 

 length of time. The bushel of rye weighs on an average about 60 lbs. 

 avoird. The usual quantity of seed sown is from 10 to 11 pecks 

 per acre, and the produce per acre, the seed being deducted, has 

 been stated as follows : 



Bushels. 



Bral)ant 23.0 



Flanders 32.4 



Austria 20.6 



England 220 



France 19.0 



The German agriculturists say, that the weight of the straw to 

 the weight of the rye produced is in general as 100 is to 47 ; others 

 say as 100 is to 50, and some have taken it even as high as 100 to 

 33. The relation seems to differ extremely in diflfeient years. At 

 Bechelbronn, for example, in 1840-41 we had 63 of grain to 100 of 

 straw; in 1841-42 we had but 25 of grain to 100 of straw. 



Rye yields flour that is not so white nor so fine as that of wheat, 



