STATISTICS OP WHEAT CULTUEE. 



229 



ments, at a temperature no higher than 68 deg. Fahr., a quantity of starch, at 

 the end of twenty-foiu' hours, was converted into syrup, which yielded seventy- 

 seven per cent, of saccharine matter.* 



It may be thought that I have overrated the importance of this subject, but it 

 is believed that a careful examination of the facts will relieve me from this 

 charge. I am now satisfied that, if the proportion of water in our exported 

 breadstuffs could be reduced to about five or six per cent., one of the great causes 

 of complaint in regard to them would be completely removed. 



Kiln-drying of breadstuffs, and exclusion of air. — The injury which our bread- 

 stuffs sustain by the large proportion of water can of course be prevented only 

 by careful drying before shipment, and by the employment of barrels rendered 

 as impervious as possible to the influence of atmospheric moisture. 



In my first report, I have spoken favorably of the process of drying by 

 steam, according to the plan patented by Mr. J. R. Stafford. I still thinlc 

 this mode possesses great advantages over those previously followed, and which 

 almost always injured the quality of the grain or flour : but from some trials 

 which I have made during the past year, it is inferred that the exposure to the 

 heat is perhaps usually not sufficiently prolonged to answer the purpose inten- 

 ded by the operation. I have often observed that samples of wheat flour, after 

 being exposed to the heat of the salt water-bath oven (220 deg. Fahr.) for two 

 or three hours, lost weight by a further continuance of the heat. An apparatus 

 has been patented by Mr. J. H. Tower, of Clinton, N. Y., consisting of a cylin- 

 der of square apartments or tubes, into which the grain or flour is introduced, 

 and subjected to heat while in rapid revolution. I examined samples which 

 had been subjected to this operation, and acertained that wheat floiu-, originally 

 containing 14.80 per cent, of water, had the proportion reduced to 10.25 per 

 cent., while in wheat the proportion of water was reduced from 14.75 to 8.55 

 per cent. 



Xow it is probable that by either of the above modes, and perhaps by many 

 others, the various kinds of breadstuffs may be brought to that degree of dry- 

 ness which, with ordinary care, shall protect them from subsequent injiuy ; but 

 in order to secure this advantage, the operation must be carefully performed, 

 and experiments must be made to ascertain how long an exposure to heat is 

 necessary to bring the sample to the proper degree of dryness, and to determine 

 whether in any respect its quality is impaired. It has already been stated that 

 absolute desiccation is not necessary, even were it attainable ; but any process 

 in order to be effective should reduce the proportion of water to about six, or 

 at most seven per cent. 



I have heretofore adverted to the great care employed in the drying of grain 

 in various foreign countries, and to which the preservation of it for a great 

 number of years is to be ascribed. 



The operation is not conducted in the hurried manner which is here thought 

 to be so essential, but is continued long enough to effect the intended object. 

 Thorough ventilation, as well as the proper degree of drying, and which is 

 equally important, is thus secured. 



It is said that in Russia the sheaves of wheat, carried into the huts, are sus- 

 pended upon poles and dried by the heat of the oven. The grain shrinks very 

 much during this process, but it is supposed to be less liable to the attacks of 

 insects, and preserves its nutritive qualities for many years. During the win- 

 ter, it is sent to market. — (" The Czar, his Court and People." By John S. 

 Maxwell, p. 272.) 



With all the necessary attention which may be paid to the proper drying of 

 our breadstuffs intended for export, another point is of equal importance, viz., 

 the shipment in vessels rendered as impervious as possible to the influence of 

 atmospheric moisture. For however carefully and thoroughly the drying, 

 especially of wheat flour or maize meal, may have been performed, it will be 

 nearly useless if the shipment is afterwards made in the barrels commonly em- 

 ployed.f And it is very certain that the transport and shipment of grain in 



* Boussingault's Rural Economy, American edition, pp. 85 and 86. 

 t Zcnas Coffin, one of the oldest whalemen in Nantucket, states that corn meal in tight 

 rum puncheons when sent to the West Indies will keep sweet, while in common flour barrels 

 it win spoil. Eeport o* the Commissioner of Patents for 1847, p, 133. 



