226 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Ma^ 



Ml. 



GROUP OF DURHAMS. 



The peculiar characteristics of this breed of cat- 

 tle are so well known to our readers, and have been 

 80 often described in our columns, that any thing 

 we could say of them at the present time would be 

 merely a repetition. The above engraving was cop- 

 ied from an English drawing, and we give it, as a 

 fair representation of the Short-horn. The fat, 

 sleek sides and clean limbs of these cattle will com- 

 mend them for beauty, at least, to all lovers of stock. 



For the New England Farmer. 



THE STAFF OF LIFE, AGAIN. 



Most cordially do I agree with your Springfield 

 correspondent, in the opinion that the bread ques- 

 tion is one of paramount importance; and most 

 heartily and cheerfully will I contribute my own 

 mite towards a full elucidation of the subject. But 

 your columns are too valuable to be occupied by 

 preliminaries ; and I will proceed at once to state, 

 again, my views, in the hope that your various cor- 

 respondents will hereafter have no doubt with re- 

 gard to the ground I occupy. 



All bread should be made of whole meal, as it 

 is called. We have no right to add to or diminish 

 the elementary principles of our grain — as in se- 

 parating the bran or adding molasses or yeast or 

 anything else — than we have to add to or detract 

 from the elements of our moral sustenance. Wheth- 

 er our meal should be fine or coarse is quite anoth 

 er question ; though, I must say, in passing, that 

 other things being equal, I should prefer to have 

 all our meal ground finely. I say other things be 

 ing equal; for if, in order to have fine meal, the 

 grain must pass between heavy mill-stones and be 

 heated to such an extent as to rob it of a large 

 proportion of its native richness, then I would say 

 do not grind it at all, or if you grind it, let it be 

 but coarsely. The truth is, I prefer to have the 

 millstone for teeth rather than have no mastication 

 at all. 



Bread thus made from whole meal should consist 

 simply of meal and water in thin cakes, quickly 

 baked ; and for the following reasons. 



1. It excludes all filthiness. Yeast or leaven is a 

 filthy compound, to say nothing worse. If it did 

 not affect the whole mass with its own "disease," 

 it would, at least, be an addition to it of so much 

 disease an j putridity. What pure stomach is wil- 

 ling to receive in each slice of bread of which it 

 partakes, an extra quantity of animalcula;, of com- 

 paratively giant growth ? Mine, at least, recoils 

 from the very thought of it. 



Here may properly come in the scripture argu- 

 ment. What now stands in our translation, "A lit- 

 tle leaven leaveneth the whole lump," should be 

 read, according to the best scholars, "A little leav- 

 en corrupteth the whole lump." With this accords 

 entirely the general scriptural idea that leaven is 

 the representative of malice, hypocrisy, &c. Sec. 

 That fermentation is the first step on the road to 

 putrefaction, will not, as I suppose, be denied ; and 

 hence raised bread is decaying bread. 



2. It wastes no nutriment, liaised bread is of 

 course fermented bread; but fermentation cannot 

 take place without changing a part of the nutritious 

 matter of its substance into alcohol and carbonic 

 acid. The former is certainly lost, since it is dis- 



pelled by the heat of the oven ; and the latter can 

 hardly be of any value. 



3. Thus made it is sweeter. That this is the case 

 might be inferred from the foregoing, no less than 

 from experience. If ferm^entation u'^es up a por- 

 tion of the farina and saccharine matter by con- 

 verting it into alcohol and carbonic acid, or as 

 some say, destroying a measure of its vitality, it of 

 course diminishes its sweetness. 



4. It requires and secures more perfect mastica- 

 tion and insalivation. This it does by retaining 

 that attraction of cohesion which fermentation part- 

 ly removes. 



I might add to these, many other reasons for 

 preferring unfermented bread to that which is fer- 

 mented ; but is it necessary ? 



We are told by "A. E. P.," that after making 

 trial of the kind (of bread I recommend, "Abra- 

 ham's wife's fine cakes, with the butter, the milk 

 and the veal," were preferred. Does this prove 

 the superiority of the latter in any point of view 

 whatever ? If the "fine cakes" have any advantage, 

 it must be on the score of gustatory enjoyment. 

 Yet those who have fairly tried both, (excepting 

 A. E. P.) assure us that afler using them a few 

 times, the unfermented cakes become much the 

 most sapid and agreeable. Besides, habit or cus- 

 tom is very powerful. "Custom or habit," it has 

 been said, is "second nature ; and second nature is 

 stronger than first nature." If this is so — and who 

 will doubt it — shall we resolve the usual preference 

 of our citizens for fermented cakes and bread into 

 superiority in point of real excellence, or shall it be 

 referred to the force of early habit? 



In'regard to the contradiction — real or supposed, 

 in your paper of Jan. 10, — to which your corres- 

 pondent has called attention, I can only say that 

 if it is justly chargeable on myself, it must be the 

 result of pure accident. If it was I who said there 

 is no kind of vegetable food more palatable, healthy 

 and nutritious than good bread made of fermented 

 wheat flour, I should havfe said mtal instead of 

 Jlour. But as I have not a file of your paper at 

 hand, I do not know whether I am the perpetrator 

 of the deed or not. 



To flour, i. e., the finer parts of the ground 

 grain, as separated from the coarser parts, I object, 

 in toto. No meal of any sort should be bolted. 

 Give us the whole meal, or nothing. Of course, I 

 do not mean to encourage the use of what naay 

 properly be called the husks of grain, whether 

 of corn, oats, barley or buckwheat. But I have 

 said all this in other words, and need not repeat. 



One drawback upon the excellency of unfermen- 

 ted wafers or "strips" of bread — whether made of 

 wheat, rye, oats, barley, corn or buckwheat — I have 

 always conceded, and still do. It is that it costs 

 rather more labor, and will not last as long ; or, in 

 other words, makes more work for the house- 

 keeper. But, at the risk of repeating, still, I must 

 say that it costs less than the usual paraphernalia of 

 cakes which are found on our tables ; and I pity 

 those who having these cakes which I recommend, 

 ever desire any others. 



If this, added to former explanations, does not 

 satisfy the readers and correspondents of the Far- 

 mer — and if the more extended explanations in my 

 late work, "The Laws of Health," should still leave 

 difficulties in their minds, — let them come at once 

 to No. 20 Lagrange Place, Boston, and I will show 

 them the theory in practice. Wm. A. Alcott. 



