414 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



JUNE 2^ IS4 3 



ANn IIORTICUI-TUKAL RK.GISTER. 



Boston, Wednesday, June 28, 1843. 



nj-PUBLISHERS' NOTICE. 



The Ticentyjirst volume odhe New England Far.mek 

 closes Willi lliis number ; and tlie Publishers take the 

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 late lamented Editor, Mr Fessenden. How far in this 

 they liave been successful, is not for thimi to say; but 

 they may say, they think, that the FAitMER during that 

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 the cause of agricultural improvement in New England. 



The Publishers in expressing their own satisfaction of 

 the inanner in which Mr Putnam has discharged his 

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 have reason to believe also, that his labors liave been 

 equally satisfactory to the patrons of the paper. Me 

 has attained during his editorship, a high standing 

 anion" the prominent agriculturists of the country, by 

 ■ his writings and experiments, and if circumstances 

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 tion, wo hope for a continuance of his valuable aid as a 

 frequent contributor to the pages of the Farmer. 



The Publishers, having been most disastrously affect 

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JOS. BRECK & CO. 



Boston, Jane 28, 1843. 



CORN MEAL. 



Mr Putnam — Dear Sir — In the course of the past 

 vtinter, I became accidentally aware of the fact, that 

 corn meal lost its line flavor by being very finely ground 

 this was most especially observable in baked Indian 

 puddings. I was unwilling to subscribe to the reason 

 given by the "gude woman," uniil repeated trials of 

 coarse and fine ineal, from the same parcel of corn, 

 given a similar result. Puddings from the coarse meal 

 were light, sweet and palatable ; while those from the 

 fine meal, even with the addition of eggs, were compara- 

 tively heavy and insipid. Indeed, the luscious, juicy 

 rich, sweet and jelly like qualities sought for, were in 

 all cases found peculiar to puddings from the coarse 

 meal ; and I doubt not that it is to these, that poets who 

 have sung the praises of" baked Indian pudding," had 

 reference; for most certainly those from very fine meal 

 are not entitled to lake rank among the luxuries of bi- 

 peds. 



The change was evidently a chemical change, pro- 

 duced by the more thorough grinding; and very natu- 

 rally gave rise to an inquiry as to the ef?ect the severe 

 grinding might have upon the nulritive, as well as sa- 

 vory qualities of meal, either for cooking or for feeding 

 domestic animals. The question thus presented, be- 



came to me, one of much interest, especially when 

 taken in connection with the common practice of grind- 

 ing meal and provender; the fanners in this viciuily, I 

 believe, generally preferring iheir provender lo be finely 

 ground, and the miller is thought to do best who grinds 

 t the finest. 



For the purpose of gaining some further light upon 

 the subject, 1 left with Dr. Dana, of Lowell, two sam- 

 ples from the same sack of corn, <me of coarse and one 

 of fine meal, with a request that if convenient he would 

 analyze them, and give the result, with his views rela- 

 tive 10 the fads and question above slated, in aid of the 

 common interest. 



A few days since I received from Dr. Dana the letter 

 herewith enclosed, which, although perhaps not written 

 for the press, I doubt not his free accord that you should 

 publish all or any part of the same that you may think 

 useful or interesting to the readers of the Farmer. 



The mill had been standing still, at least for a while, 

 and probably the stones were cold, or nearly so, when 

 the samples were ground, and therefore they may not 

 have given a fair test of the lull effect of ordinary severe 

 grinding. 



Doubtless there is yet something further to be learned 

 in this matter. Perhaps the breaking of the envelope 

 of the starchy globules, and presenting the oil of corn 

 in the manner incident to the fine grimling, as mention- 

 ed by Dr. Dana, gives us the reason or cause of the pain- 

 ful etfects from eating Indian bread or puddings, expe- 

 rienced at times by dyspeptics and some others; if so, 

 it would seem thai this pernicious effect can easily be 

 obviated by rejecting fiir pudding and bread making, 

 both fine ground meal and the fine part always found in 

 coarse meal. 



Most respectfully, yours, 



8WILLIAM CLARK, 

 Northampton, June 2Qth, 1843. 



Lowell, June 'id, '43. 

 Dear Sir — A few days after you were here, I fell in 

 company with a very intelligent dealer in grain, going 

 with his wife lo Boston. I set myself down by her, and 

 our conversation turning upon the education of daugh- 

 ters, naturally led lo thai essential part of such educa- 

 tion, domestic economy — and so, naturally, to pudding 

 making. I mentioned the result you had brought lo 

 my notice; whereupon, the husband expressed great 

 surprise that the fact that finely ground meal will not 

 make good pudding, was new lo me. He had long 

 known it, and always had his corn ground coarse to 

 make Indian puddings of His wife says she will use 

 none other. Going, a few days after, to a mill, to ascer- 

 tain the tern pel ature of the meal as it comes from the 

 stones, I met the miller, who told me unless I could 

 spend a day at the mill, one observation wimld do me 

 little good. In the morning, all being cool, the meal 

 heats of course but little ; in the course of a day's work, 

 the stones gelling holler, he said, he could hardly bear 

 his hand on tho meal. The miller, learning my object, 

 said, that from the same sack of « lient, or rye, or corn, 

 he could make meal which would afford exnelleni dough, 

 and bread, or no dough, nor good bread, nor puddings. 

 All dependedon the grinding. All grain ground very 

 fine and heating much, lost its bread-making projierties. 

 The flour all ru«5, as the phrase is; it will not form 

 good dough nor good bread. This is, be slated to me, a 

 long known fart. You see, therefore, your notion of 

 the effects of fine or coarse grinding, is quite well con- 

 firmed. I am quite at loss lo define the cause, but I at- 

 tribute it, first, to the change produced by heat, upon 

 the arrangement of the elements of starch. You are 

 aware that there are great varictits of this substance, all 



exhibiting the same prujioriions of carbon, hydrogen, 

 and oxygen. They are chemically the same, and slight 

 causes change one lo the (dlicr. From starch, the transi- 

 tion is easy to gum and .sugar. Some varieties of starch 

 are converted by boiling into gum. The heat of the 

 mill stones may cause this change, or at least such an 

 approach to it that the additional heat of boiling or bak- 

 ing may complete it. 



I atlribuie the effect of fine grinding, secondly, to tho 

 probable abrasion of the envelope of the starchy globule, 

 by which the starch at once absorbs even cold water 

 like a sponge, and becomes jelly like. Such flour runs 

 when made, or attempted to be made, into dough. Then 

 when made into pudding, of course a very little boiling 

 or baking will change such starch lo gum, and you may 

 as well expect gum as this starch to form puddings. 



The question you raised, whether tho nutritive proper- 

 ties are not afiecled by the mode of grinding is one of 

 great weight, if we admit, that tho change of form from 

 one variety of starch into another, of from starch to 

 gum or sugar, affects its fat-forming power. I cannot, 

 from any facts known to me, or from general principles, 

 admit that these changes have any such effect. From 

 the cfl'ect upon ourselves, I should say that the nearer 

 the food is brought to the 'slate of cooked food, thai is, 

 to gum and sugar, the easier its digestion, and conse- 

 quently its conversion into fat. But we are not left 

 here to " a priori" reasoning. Practice among the hog- 

 raisers in our neighborhood, as the miller told me, has 

 led to the use of meal {Indian) for fuitening hogs; but 

 horses, it is found, thrive best on such coarsely ground 

 corn as is used for puddings. Perhaps the explanation 

 of this rests in part upon the facts mentioned to me, a 

 day or two since, by my esteemed chemical friend, Mr 

 A. A. Hayes, who has made a vast number of experi- 

 ments on corn. The oil of corn, he says, is highly irri- 

 tating to the stomach of man and of the horse, but innox- 

 ious to the hog. Hence being finely ground, the hog 

 extracts and uses for his own fat the oil of corn, which 

 the more coarsely ground grain retains, and hence acts 

 more kindly upon the horse. Wishing, however, to 

 test my opinion respecting the conversion of ihe starch 

 to gum, by grinding, and desirous of gratifying your re- 

 quest, I analyzed the samples of corn you left with mo. 

 The results are as follows : 



Coarse ground. Fine do. 



83. 82. • Starch and husky matter. 



17. 18. - Gluten, oil, gum, &C.I&C. 



100. 100. - Soluble in water and alkali. 



The difference between the quantity of starch is so lit- 

 tle, ihat I am inclined to think the change efi'ccted by 

 grinding depends upon converting one form of starch 

 into another, rather than into gum, and upon the grind- 

 ing off or abrading the starch envelope. 



1 assure you. the question which you stated tome, 

 from its great practical bearings, has excited my atten- 

 tion more than that relating to the sugar from corn. 

 The slate of food best for fattening animals, is one of 

 deep interest, but I believe this will resolve itself wholly 

 into a question of the ease of digestion. On no point is 

 the farmer under greater obligations lo Liebig, than for 

 his most admirable researches respecting the origin of 

 fat. His views here are not only of the highest piacti- 

 cal utility, but are among the most philosophical devel- 

 opments of modern chemistry. But here, new experi- 

 ments, such as those of Mr Hayes, to which I have re- 

 ferred, are wanting, to show why food in one slate is 

 more digestible than in another. Let us go on : light 

 always beams upon those who will seek it. 

 With great regard, most truly yours, 



SAM. L. DANA. 



