1867.] Agriculture. 371 



methods by which agriculturists may turn the information thus 

 given, to account in practice. 



The Proceedings of the Society of Arts must not be forgotten in 

 our Chronicle. At Mr. Harry Chester's suggestion, an energetic Food 

 Committee of that body has been employed in collecting and dis- 

 seminating information on the importation, marketing, preservation, 

 cookery, &c, of all kinds of meat — on the nature of the milk trade 

 by which London is supplied, and on the supply of milk in country 

 districts — also on the economical possibilities of the flour manufac- 

 ture. A very useful mass of facts has been thus collected, which 

 must ultimately exert good influence on the various departments of 

 the trade in food. Professor John Wilson, of Edinburgh, has called 

 attention, through this committee, to M. MourieY plan of dealing 

 with wheat, by which only the outer cuticle of the grain, containing 

 nothing that is digestible as food, is removed. The bran, which is 

 at present taken from the flour, contains no less than 15 per cent, of 

 useful nitrogenous ingredients, and is itself 15 per cent, of the 

 whole grain. The cuticle which M. Mouries removes is only 4 per 

 cent, of the wheat, and it is not only worthless as food but, owing 

 to its absorbent nature, it is absolutely mischievous, by increasing the 

 difficulty of storing and keeping the grain. The decorticated grain 

 will pack closer, keep better, and yield a larger quantity of more 

 nutritious flour than the whole wheat dealt with as it is by the 

 ordinary English miller. 



Yet another matter connected with the Society of Arts has to 

 be reported. It has offered a handsome prize for the best account 

 of harvest process in this and other countries : — " Whereby cut corn 

 may be protected from rain in the field ; whereby standing corn 

 may, in wet seasons, be cut and carried, for drying by artificial 

 process ; whereby corn so harvested may be dried by means of ven- 

 tilation, hot air, or other methods, with suggestions for the storage 

 both in the ear and after thrashing; and whereby corn, sprouted, 

 or otherwise injured, by wet, may be best treated for grinding or 

 feeding purposes." The whole must be supplemented by a state- 

 ment of the practical results, and of the actual cost of each system 

 described; and authenticated estimates must be given of any 

 process proposed for adoption, based upon existing, possibly incom- 

 plete, experiments. 



The probability of drying grass artificially, except at an expense 

 which will make the process unprofitable, is not very great ; never~ 

 theless, it seems that if the data of the books can be realized in 

 practice, the thing is possible, and, if so, the smaller quantity of 

 water contained in ripe grain, and the greater value of the remainder 

 when the water has been dried off and the crop is ready for 

 storage or for market, should make the artificial process of drying 

 grain crops quite successful. It is probable that 100,000,000 



