AND AGRICULTURE. 



31 



oat-meal, the flour of wheat, and of all other 

 grains cultivated for food. 



Gluten is a sticky, 

 tenacious substance, 

 found along with the 

 starch, in almost all 

 plants. It may be 

 easily obtained from 

 wheat-flour, by mak- 

 ing it into a dough, 

 and then repeatedly 

 washing it with water. 

 (See Appendix, 18.) 

 In the stems of plants the woody fibre is the 

 most abundant, and starch is most abundant in 

 their seeds : starch is also very abundant in the 

 potato, and other roots of a similar kind. 



Woody fibre, starch, gum and sugar, all con- 

 sist of carbon and water only ; and, as water 

 contains hydrogen and oxygen, the articles just 

 named consist of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. 



Questions. What is gluten ? How may .gluten be ob- 

 tained ? Which of the substances named is most abundant 

 in the stems of plants ? Which in the seeds ? Does starch 

 exist in the roots of plants ? Of what do woody fibre, 

 starch, gum and sugar, consist ? 



