THE GRAMINEjE. 



211 



on the score of expense. In 1GG9 Evelyn pre- 

 sented to the royal society a description of a sow- 

 ing machine, invented by Locatelli, a native of 

 Italy, who had obtained a patent for its use in 

 Spain, having demonstrated its utility by public 

 experiment. The drUl plough, however, says a 

 recent writer, was not used in England, and was 

 perhaps quite unknown to a body of men who 

 are proverbially slow aU over the world to adopt 

 any improvement, till public attention was 

 ftwakened to it, in the early part of the last cen- 

 tury, by the celebrated Jethro TuU, who, after 

 practically following for some years his own im- 

 proved plan of husbandry, and thereby proving 

 its advantages, published a particular account of 

 his process in tlie year 1733. This work, which 

 he entitled "An Essay on Horse-hoeing Hus- 

 bandry," became highly popular, compelling the 

 attention of English agriculturists to the sub- 

 ject, and engaging no less the consideration of 

 scientific foreigners. The system of Mr TuU 

 consisted in discarding the old method of scatter- 

 ing seed upon the land broad-cast, and in substi- 

 tuting a mode of sowing the grain in straight 

 rows or furrows, by means of an implement more 

 perfect than Locatelli's machine, which delivered 

 the seed at proper intervals, and in the exact 

 quantity that was found most beneficial. Spaces 

 of fifty inches breadth were left between the fur- 

 rows, so that the land could be ploughed or 

 horse-hoed in these intervals at various periods 

 during the growth of tlie crop, the object of these 

 hoeings being to bring fresh portions of the soil 

 into contact with the fibrous roots of the plants, 

 and thus to render every part in tui-n available 

 for their nutrition. One material advantage that 

 results from the new method of husbandry is the 

 saving which it occasions in seed-corn, and which 

 is said to amount to five-eighths of the quantity 

 usually expended in the old method. 



A bushel of wheat of the average weight, when 

 gi-ouud into flour, yields the following produce : 



Bread Flonr, 

 Fine Pollard, 

 Coarse Do., 

 Bran, 

 Loss, 



lbs. 

 47 



^ 

 4 



2 

 60 



The method of making loaf bread, similar tq 

 that used in the present day, was known in the 

 east at a very early period ; but neither the pre- 

 cise time of the discovery, nor the name of the 

 person to whom mankind is indebted for it, has 

 been handed down to us. That the Jews knew 

 how to make bread in the time of Moses, or above 

 1600 years before the commencement of the 

 Cliristian era, is evident from the prohibition of 

 the use of leavened bread during the celebration 

 of the passover. There is no evidence that loaf 



bread was known to Abraham, lor in his history 

 cakes are frequently mentioned, but loaf bread 

 or leavened bread never. It can scarcely be 

 doubted tliat the Jews learned the art of making 

 loaf bread from the Egyptians. The Greeks in- 

 form us that they were taught the method of 

 malcing loaf bread by the god Pan. We leani 

 from Homer that loaf bread was known during 

 the Trojan war. Pliny tells us that no bakers 

 existed at Rome till the year 680 after the build- 

 ing of the city, or about two hundred years be- 

 fore the commencement of the Christian era. 

 Before that time bread was made in private 

 houses, and was the business of the women. The 

 only substance fit for making good loaf bread is 

 wheat flour. It is the practice of some to mix 

 this flour vrith potatoe starch; such an addition, 

 however, cannot and ouglit not to exceed 30 per 

 cent., otherwise the flour would not be fit for 

 making bread. 



The process of baking consists in mixing wheat 

 flour with water, and forming it into dough. The 

 average proportion is two parts of water to thi'ee 

 of flour by weight; but this proportion varies 

 considerably, according to the age and quality of 

 the flour. In general the older and better the 

 flour is, the greater is the quantity of water re- 

 quired. If the dough, after being thus formed, 

 be allowed to remain for some time, the sugar of 

 the farina undergoes a fermentation, being de- 

 composed into carbonic acid and alcohol. The 

 gluten which exists in every part of this dough 

 prevents the carbonic acid from escaping; it 

 therefore heaves up tlie dough in every part, and 

 more than doubles its bulk. The fermentation, 

 however, does not stop when the sugar is decom- 

 posed, it continues to act upon the alcohol, and 

 gradually converts it into acetic and lactic acids. 

 The consequence of this last action, which can- 

 not be prevented on account of the slowness of 

 the vinous fermentation of the dough, is, that it 

 acquires a sour taste and smell, and if it be baked 

 in the oven, though the loaf is full of eyes, and 

 possesses the characters of loa£ bread, yet its acid 

 taste and smell render it disagreeable to the pa- 

 late, and unfit for the purposes of food. Dough 

 that has been allowed to ferment in this way is 

 called leaven; but if a small quantity of this 

 leaven be mixed with new made dough, and the 

 mixture laid aside for a few hours, fermentation 

 commences and goes on much more rapidly, so 

 that the dough swells to at least twice its ori- 

 ginal bulk. If it be now put into the oven and 

 baked, the fermentation is checked before any 

 acid begins to be formed, and the bread is full of 

 eyes, light, spongy, and sweet. 



The ancient Gauls and Spaniards, as Pliny in- 

 forms us, contrived another method of bringing 

 on a fermentation in dougli. Instead of leaven 

 they added to the dough a quantity of the t^east 

 or barm, which collects on the surface of fer- 



