INDIAN CORN. 41 



at the Brandywine mills — the Connecticut millers usinjr the white corn, and pro- 

 ducinof an inferior article of" meal, owini^ to want of skill in preparinj^ it and de- 

 fects in the construction of tlie kiln. The Brandywine millers perfected their 

 kiln and adopted the yellow corn by way of distinction, more for the purpose of 

 si^rnalizinc; their brand, tiian any supposed superiority over the white. From 

 greater proticiency in kiln-drying!; and manufacturing Meal, they soon cni^rossed 

 the West India markets for their yellow meal, and thus induced our farmers to 

 grow so extensively iierc the yrlloni corn. This fact is not generally known, 

 and is interestinij in liie history of kiln-dried corn meal. 



At the several mills on the Brandywine, there arc annually thus dried and 

 ground some half-million bushels of corn. It is packed into hogsheads and 

 barrels, and is shipped principally to the West Indies — keeping for a long period 

 perfectly good, and does not appear to be deprived of any of its nutritive proper- 

 ties by having been subjected to heat. Chemical analysis will test this, and can 

 decide the question which of the two is to be preferred — white or yelloiv corn. 



Under the auspices of the jMew-York " Farmers' Club," an important analy- 

 sis mai/ be made of the relative strength and value of the best varieties of our In- 

 dian Corn. What better contribution could they make of their lime, and money, 

 and talents, hitherto so liberally given to advance the interests not only of Ag- 

 riculture, but those of manufactures and the mechanic arts? 



Ti-uly your friend, JAMES W. THOMSON. 



[It appears by the At^ricultural Periodical, published by the Government of the United States, 

 under the title of" the Patent Office Report, that corn meal is kiln-dried in Ohio by a process 

 -which extracts from " 12 to 16 ponnds of water" from a barrel of meal, and that it is effected by 

 means of "hot air." Mr. Ellsworth says, " There may be seen to be a loss of 12 to 16 pounds of 

 flour ; but whenever the flour so treated is made into bread, it reabsorbs, as might be expected, 

 12 to 16 pounds more water than common flour ; makint,' in a cargo not a small saving:, in duties 

 and freight, when sent to foreign markets." This would be true if the freight were paid on the 

 weight. Whether there be any difference, and what, between the yellow and the white com, 

 grown in the same, or between both of them gi-own in different regions, may be worthy of in- 

 quiry ; but we have supposed that the meal of the one or the other is prefeiTed lor table use, ac- 

 cording to the fancy or fashion of particular families or neighborhoods — some habitually using 

 the one, some the other, without any solid ground for exclusive preference. 



It may be regarded as a real misfortune, that the Corn bought and shipped to England on ac- 

 count of the English Government, should not have been kiln-dried ; hence becoming musty and 

 calculated to aggravate the prejudices already existing against that noble grain ; but the secrecy 

 which it vv'as probably deemed necessary to practice in the case, perhaps rendered that unavoid- 

 able. This necessity to observe the caution of having all exported corn and corn meal kiln- 

 dried, is an important fact and cannot be too widely known. We should have been well pleased 

 if Dr. Thomson, late President of the Agricultural Society of Newcastle, had described the fix- 

 tares and process employed in the operation. The Messrs. Gill, of Ohio, do not wi.sh to disclose 

 their process, " until their patent is secured," which is well enough ; but we hope never to see 

 the day when agriculturists shall make a mystery of any machine or process, which, in its 

 operation, is calculated to be beneficial to the public. Such concealment, for selfish purposes, may 

 suit the views of other trades and callings, but is utterly incompatible with that ingenuousness 

 and open-handed dealing which best comports with a pursuit which courts the light under 

 which it is carried on. Ed. Farm. Lib.] 



MANUFACTURING CORN MEAL FOR EXPORTATION. 



Wilmington, June 5, 1846. 

 In answer to your inquiries respecting corn, or corn meal, as articles of export 

 to England, I can say, afteran experience of nearly tifty years in the manufacture 

 of corn, that I am entirely satisfied they cannot have such an article for human 

 food as would be tolerated in this country, in any other way than by taking meal 

 manufiictured here, instead oi corn to be manufactured there. From the period 

 of saving the Indian corn crop, until June and July of the ensuing year, it v.'ill in- 

 variably heat, when permitted to lay any time in bulk, after being taken from 

 the cob — this produces must on the hull and heart of the corn, so as seriously lo 



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