114 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



stones to the coolers, and many other contrivances' 

 only, if possible, alvways using steam as the drying 

 medium. 



Wheaten flour, as I before remarked, is not only 

 nutritious and palatable, but ferments and makes 

 "bread." The other grains, with the exception of 

 rye and buckwheat, do not. Hence, Indian corn 

 makes " cakes," but, without a certain portion of rye, 

 will not make bread. But I insist that much of 

 the prejudice against corn arises frorn the mode of 

 preparation. Hominy, samp and meal all answer well 

 for certain uses, but they are quite unfit for bread. 

 The old idea of coarse grain requiring to be ground 

 coarse, still holds good. Even sifted meal does not 

 answer; we want "double extra superfine" corn 

 Jiour. Not corn starch, — all the zein, the really 

 nutritive principle is taken out of that, and given 

 to the hogs. What we want is really fine-ground 

 and finely bolted corn flour; white corn, if possible, 

 and the hardest procurable. 



Wanting for my wife some corn meal for mush, 

 I, finding 1 could get none in Montreal, applied to 

 a Scotch friend who had a brother, a miller. He 

 took some "white Canada corn," grown on the 

 Island of Montreal, and, not understanding what 

 was wanted, made "superfine flour" of it. It was 

 useless for mush or porridge, but it answered for 

 pastry, puddings, and other similar purposes, better 

 than the very best wheaten flour. 



Now here is a use for large quantities, better and 

 far cheaper than wheaten liour, much more whole- 

 some; and, as with pastry, puddings, and such 

 purposes, no fermentation is looked for, Indian 

 flour would fill the place now usurped by spoiling 

 the best wheat that Canada can grow. I may add 

 that corn flour of this character has been intro- 

 duced into England, and has taken well. Surely, 

 in America it ought not to be neglected. 



Rye and Indian bread is common in New Jersey, 

 and many parts of the Union. Rye bi'ead is also 

 used in very numy parts of Europe. The same 

 fault — coarse grinding and want of sifting — prevails 

 universally. The man who will have his wheaten 

 bread as white as snow, uses black rye bread; and 

 even if the rye flour is fine, the corn mixed with 

 it is only ground to lueal. Make them both fine, — 

 "double extra superfine" all tlie better — and you 

 have a loaf nearly equal to a Avheaten loaf. But to 

 have the flavor, add one-third wheat bran, or shorts, 

 or middlings re-ground; say, one-third Indian corn, 

 one-third rye, and one-third wheat middlings. Grind 

 fine, bolt equal to extra superfine, and kiln-dry to 

 make it keep, and I will engage tliat as good a loaf 

 as any one can want will be the result. 



Buckwheat ferments and makes, as we all know, 

 good cakes. Were rye unattainable, or dear, it 

 might be substituted, or form one of four, namely : 

 rye, buckwheat, corn, and wheat oflEal. Oats might 

 take the place of corn in cold climates, or, with 

 barley and peas or beans, could be employed 

 together. Peas and beans being fermentable in 

 some degree, should be employed where more than 

 one-half of either corn or barley is used. In this 

 way, many mixtures might be employed, all finely 

 ground, very finely sifted, and kUn-dried. The 

 offal is of course useful for cattle, sheep, horses, or 

 swine, and the occasion for alarm in the event 

 of the partial failure of the wheat crop, perfectly 

 removed. 



The mixture of one third each of corn, rye, and 

 wheat oftal would be the most approaching ordinary 

 wheaten bread. Corn, rye, buckwheat, oats, and 

 wheat offal, the next best, and any quantity of beans 

 or peas, even if balanced by barley, though nourish- 

 ing, would be coarse. 



I have mentioned what I consider migftt be the 

 uses of pure double extra corn flour, namely : pastry, 

 puddings, such as suet, plum, and others, now 

 always made from wheat flour, and all sorts of 

 custards and blanc manges, far better than corn 

 starch. 



Barley, first hulled and then ground and sifted, 

 makes delicious articles^ like sago and tapioca, blanc 

 mange and jellies, and for soup is far before pot or 

 pearl barley. 



Superfine oat flour makes excellent puddings, 

 gruel, and various other articles for the family and 

 sick-room. 



These last two articles are prepared in England 

 by a Mr. Robinson, and sold in Canada at a very 

 great price. Sure-ly, we ought not to have to 

 resort to Britain for oat and barley flour. 



In England, rice flour is used for many articles 

 of luxury, but here it seems unknown. 



Peas made into fine flour, are far better for soup 

 than whole or split peas, and even, if grown on 

 good soil or with plaster, . boil down, which tht 

 others will not do. Pea flour makes most excellent 

 puddings to eat with meat, and the Scotch use ii 

 to cure dyspepsia. 



I know nothing of the flour of white beans, biv 

 can easily imagine it to be good for soup and foi 

 pudding under pork. This I must leave for trial 



I now drop the subject. I do not pretend t( 

 have exhausted it, although I may your patience 

 I hope some one will take it up and vastly improve 

 upon it, and that a variety of bread may, ere ver 

 long, be as common as a variety of meats. 



Tarmtto, C. W., January, ISCO. J. T. BEONDGEEST, 



^ I ^ 



VALUE OF MAKSH MUCK TOXIGHT LAND FARMERS 



Eds. Gen. Faumeu: — Two important problem 

 the American farmer has to solve, are how best t 

 maintain or inoi'ease the fertility of his soil ; and ho\ 

 best to mitigate the disastrous effects of surame 

 drouths. The valuable report of Prof. JoriNsof 

 on the nature and value of peat and muck, aftord 

 considerable aid in these inquiries, and is calculate 

 to be of very great benefit to those who are in 

 position to profit by its teachings. 



Hereaway at the West, so far from the sea-boar 

 that guano and other commercial manures ar 

 scarcely available, and with few cities and mane 

 factories in our midst affording extraneous supplie 

 of matters suitable for manure, it is of vast impoi 

 tance to know that we have in our marshes am 

 swamps an inexhaustible supply of enriching an' 

 moisture-supplying material, which may be ha 

 for the trouble of digging. 



In a paper on vegetable physiology applied t 

 farm plants, published in the Transactions of ou 

 State Agricultural Society for 1853, when speakin 

 of the food of plants and whence it is derived, 

 directed attention to the value of the muck of ou 

 marshes, as an absorbent of urine and to compos 

 with yard manure; that, unlike the comparative! 

 barren peat used for similar purposes in Grea 

 Britain, from the time of Lord Meadowbank dow: 



