9Sr, 



are compelled to eat Is well calculated to weaken ratter than 

 sustain the vital functions. 



During the most favorable seasons thousands of bushels of 

 wheat are made into flour, which, owing to local causes, ^elay 

 in harvesting, or storage in large bodies, is rendered entirely 

 unfit to be used as food. A portion of this is employed in 

 the arts, but the great bulk goes into families, and feeble chil- 

 dren, as well as adults, are forced to consume it, much to their 

 injury. It is doubtful if anything can be done to abate this 

 evil ; the cupidity of men is but little affected by considera- 

 tions of right, and the thirst for gain is potent and irresistible. 

 There are several methods of testing wheat flour, which are 

 available to purchasers, although none of them afford positive 

 indications. Good flour is not sensibly sujeet to the taste, but 

 bad flour often is. This is owing to the presence of glucose, 

 resulting from chemical changes in the grain, by partial malt- 

 ing. Extreme whiteness is a good indication, as changed 

 grain is discolored in the process of change. Good flour is 

 tenacious and unctous to the touch ; when thrown against a 

 wall it should adhere and not fall readily. It does not feel 

 crispy, and when formed into a ball in the hand, adheres to- 

 gether like a ball of snow. To the sense of smell it is sweet 

 and pleasant, and when taken into the mouth, forms a glutin- 

 . ous mass, free from all disagreeable taste. 



The nutritive quality of flour depends upon the proportion 

 of gluten which it contains. In the best specimens 10 or 12 

 per cent, is found. A barrel of flour contains about 20 

 pounds of gluten, and 150 of common starch. The starch 

 can easily be washed out of a small quantity of flour by plac- 

 ing it in a bag of cotton cloth and kneading it under a stream 

 of water. The gluten remains upon the cloth and is a gray, 

 viscid, tenacious mass, insoluble in water. It is the strength- 

 giving principle of the flour, and in a three pound loaf of 

 bread there should be at least three ounces of this substance. 



Bad bread is by no means always chargeable to imperfect 

 materials. Hundreds of families, who procure and use the 



