3.4 Food-Grains of India. 



chemical one. And it has often been observed that the larger 

 the percentage of albuminoid matter in a grain the larger is 

 the proportion of these phosphates. 



It is necessary to add a few words as to the oil or fat present 

 in the cereals. Some of this, often a good proportion, resides 

 in the coats of the grains, and in the embryos or "chits." When, 

 therefore, wheat-grain is decorticated, and especially when, as 

 in some modern processes of milling, the embryos are removed, 

 the percentage of oil is much lowered. This will be obvious 

 when we state that the embryos contain 14^ per cent, of oil and 

 the different grades of bran from 2% to 5, the whole wheat- 

 grain not showing more than 2 per cent. Maize and barley 

 are rich in oil — rice very poor. In actual dietaries this deficiency 

 of oil or fat is made up in several ways. Where fish or flesh 

 meat is employed, a good deal of oil or fat is introduced therein, 

 but the very common use in India of milk, or of some preparation 

 from it, effects something in the same direction ; expressed fatty 

 oils are also extensively employed. 



The mineral matter or ash in the grain of the cereals 

 shows some variation both in quantity and in composition. In 

 the unhusked grains it amounts on the average to less than 

 2 per cent. ; in cleaned rice it is as low as o-6 per cent., and 

 may occasionally sink to o'4. In paddy it amounts to 07 or o"8 

 per cent. ; as a general rule, the removal of the coats of any 

 cereal grain in dressing it, involves the abstraction of much 

 mineral matter. 



The large group of the minor cereals, which may be designated 

 "millets," together constitute a more important crop than either 

 rice or wheat, and are grown more extensively, being raised from 

 Madras in the South to Rdjputdna in the North. They occupy 

 about 83 per cent, of the food-grain area in Bombay and Sind ; 

 41 per cent, in the Punjab ; 39 per cent, in the Central Provinces ; 

 and 34 per cent, in the North- West Provinces. The chief species 

 are Great Millet, or joar [Sorghum vulgare) ; spiked or bulrush 

 millet, bajra {Pennisetum typkoideum) ; Ragi {Eleusine coracana) ; 



