172 WHEAT. 



The cereals, besides their principal produce, their farinaceous 

 seeds, yield another, which is of great importance in rural economy; 

 this is straw, which no European agricultural establishment could 

 do without. After having been used as food and as litter for cattle, 

 it is returned to the ground as manure, and contributes powerfully 

 in preventing the exhaustion of the soil, which the cultivation of 

 wheat always produces. The quantity of straw which can be recl^- 

 oned on in a farm, is, of course, in proportion to the soil under white 

 crops. The relative weight of grain and straw, however, varies 

 considerably according to circumstances ; in a wet year, for instance, 

 the wheat crop contains a relatively large proportion of straw, and 

 a small proportion of grain; in dry years the contrary relation ob- 

 tains. Lands recently and abundantly manured, yield a larger 

 quantity of straw than clover breaks. Thick sowing always yields 

 a large quantity in contrast with the grain ; lastly, climate exerts 

 the most marked influence upon the two kinds of produce which we 

 are considering. The differences which are observed between one 

 year and another, in the same districts, in consequence of very dif- 

 ferent meteorological conditions, are not less remarkable. I shall 

 quote a single instance. The years 1840, 1841, and 1842 gave us 

 crops of grain at Bechelbronn which were" far from excellent ; in 

 the first the rains were too abundant, and in the second the drought 

 was too long continued. In these opposite circumstances, the weight 

 of the straw to that of the grain was — 



In 1840-41 : : 100 : 24 

 In 1841-42 : : 100 : 90 



The latter harvest, in fact, occasioned a complete dearth of litter in 

 cur establishment. In ordinary years we procure about 38 of grain 

 for 100 of straw, a relation which agrees with those that have been 

 reported by different observers, who vary in their calculations from 33 

 and 35 to 41, 44, and 50 of grain to 100 parts of straw. 



In the cereals the amylaceous matter, which constitutes the princi- 

 pal part of the seed, is surrounded by a flexible perisperm,of the nature 

 of woody tissue. The object of grinding is to break this case and to 

 reduce the interior of the grain to powder. In France, the grinding 

 of wheat is performed by a succession of operations ; in England it is 

 completod at once. The French mode, however, appears to yield 

 the largest quantity of fine flour. 



English. French. 



Fine flour ^('70 66),. 



Secondflour 14 j'-* 8\'* 



Bran 26 23 



Loss 2 3 



The proportion of flour furnished by the cereals does not, however, 

 depend alone upon the mode of grinding, but also upon the nature of 

 the grain. Wheat, for instance, of different kinds, yields 78, 83, and 

 85 J per cent, of flour. 



Speller. This grain is so firmly enclosed in the husk that it can- 

 not be freed by threshing ; so that, in the countries where this grain 

 is grown, the mills are provided with an apparatus for husking it 



