1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FARRIER. 



551 



of the cereals are the most important. His 

 remarks upon wheat seem to be of particular 

 interest. 



He says: "Different species of this grain 

 are cultivated, but the most common in this 

 country is Triticnmvulgare, of which there is a 

 summer and a winter variety. 



"The grain varies a good deal in composi- 

 tion, according to season, climate and soil ; 

 but as a rule, the wheat of southern climates 

 and warm seasons is richer in gluten, and of 

 harder texture than that of colder climes. 

 They are then called stronger grains, although 

 the iatter, from their being softer and kinder, 

 give a larger proportion of Hour. Some of 

 the hardest varieties of wheat, as rivets, are 

 used to strengthen the flour of new grain, 

 which is always unmanagable, and to improve 

 that of bad seasons and of damaged quality. 



"The structure of the grain is like tbat of all 

 the cereals ; there is an outer siliceous and 

 woody covering, which is altogether valueless 

 as food ; then there is a layer of rich nitroge- 

 nous matter, containing a digestive body called 

 cerealine, and within that is the flour, which 

 forms the great bulk of the seed. 



"When ground whole, it forms brown meal, 

 which is rarely used in England at the present 

 time, although it was the common food of our 

 forefathers, and even now is much employed 

 in Westphalia to make the dark-colored bread 

 called pumper- nickel. It contains from five to 

 twelve per cent, of indigestible matter in the 

 form of bran, the removal of which, accord- 

 ing to Liebeg, is only a refinement of luxury. 



"The practice at the present time is to bolt 

 or sift the ground meal through sieves or silks 

 of different degrees of fineness, and thus to 

 remove the coarser bran. The products have 

 different names in different places, and have 

 also different values; but generally lUO lbs. 

 of wheat will yield from 78 to 80 parts of 

 good servicealile flour. The other products 

 are about 2 parts of specks, or tails, or tip- 

 pings ; from 3.5 to 6 of coarse pollard ; and 

 from 4 to 10 of bran. 



"Seconds flour is practically the best for do- 

 mestic use ; and of this there should be at 

 least 80 per cent, obtained from the grain. 

 Attempts have often been made to increase 

 the produce ; for as the bran contains a good 

 deal of nitrogenous matter, and is, moreover, 

 rich in fat and saline substances, it has been 

 thought wasteful to remove it ; but the exper- 

 imental researches of Poggiale, the learned 

 Professor at Val de Grace, have shown that at 

 least 50 per cent, of the bran is perfectly in- 

 digestible, and may be passed successively 

 through the bodies of four or five animals 

 without undergoing change. It moreover acts 

 as an irritant ; and by hurrying the food 

 through the alimentary canal, is very likely to 

 cause waste. Those who labor hard, as rail- 

 way navigators, invariably choose the whitest 

 bread for food, believing that it is not only 

 more digestible, but it is stronger, and will 



enable them to do more work. Without 

 doubt, however, there is room for improve- 

 ment in the treatment of flour, and in the 

 complete utilization of its several constituents. 

 M. Mege Mouries has invented a process 

 whereby the outer skin only of the wheat may 

 be removed, and from 8G to 88 per cent, of 

 Hour realized. The process was examined in 

 1857, and reported very favorably of by Du- 

 mas, Peouze, Payen, Peligot and Chevrelel, 

 but I am not aware that it has come into use. 



"M. Mege IMouries also directed attention to 

 the fact that the bran contains a portion of 

 very soluble nitrogenous matter, cerealine, 

 which is of the nature of diastase, and has the 

 property of dissolving starch. This, no 

 doubt, might be utilized by treating bran with 

 warm water, and then using the water in the 

 manufacture of bread. 



"The nutritive value of wheat is shown in 

 tables No. 3 and No. 4 [ These tables are 

 not given on account of their length.] and 

 although the average amount of gluten is 

 there set down at about eleven per cent, it 

 ranges from tight to fifteen per cent , the 

 Isergest quantity being found in the wheaten 

 flour of India, Egypt, South America and the 

 South of Europe. 



"It appears, too, that the quantity of gluten, 

 as represented by nitrogen, increases with the 

 coarseness of the flour, and so, also, does the 

 amount of mineral matter. 



"The test for a good flour are its sweetness 

 and freedom from acidity or musty flavor; 

 and its nutritive value, as far as gluten is con- 

 cerned, is estimated by the process of Bec- 

 caria, who discovered gluten in wheat more 

 than a century ago. A given weight of flour 

 (say 500 grains) is made into a stiff dough, 

 and is carefully washed by tender manipula- 

 tion under a small stream of water. The 

 gluten remains, and when baked it expands 

 into a clear looking ball, which should weigh, 

 when thoroughly dried, about fifty-four grains. 



"Of all the preparations of flour, bread is the 

 most important. I shall hereafter describe 

 the process of making it, but I may here re- . 

 mark that it should not contain more than 

 from 36 to 38 per cent, of water, and the 

 other constituents, excepting salt, should be 

 the same as of good flour. 



"In practice, lOO lbs. of flour will make from 



133 to 137 lbs. of bread, a good average being 



134 ; so that a sack of flour of 286 lbs. should 

 yield 95 four-pound loaves. The art of the 

 baker, however, is to increase this quantity, 

 and he does it by hardening the gluten through 

 the agency of a little alum, or by means of a 

 gummy mess of boiled rice, three or four lbs. 

 of which will, when boiled for two or three 

 hours in as many gallons of water, make a 

 sack of flour yield 100 four-pound loaves. 

 But the bread is dropsical, and gets soft and 

 sodden at the base where it stands. A good 

 loaf should have the following characters : 

 kindness of structure, that is, not chaffy or 



