972 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



insist on having their flour " beautifully white," though this is done to 

 the great loss of its nourishing value. Theoretically, whole-meal bread 

 would obviate this error ; but practically it is found that unless the corn 

 be most scrupulously cleaned by the miller before grinding, numerous 

 foreign substances are often to be met with, such as sharp-pointed frag- 

 ments of awns, bristling points of seeds and fruits, pieces of pointed chaff- 

 scales, &c. (as shown in fig. 219, 5). In addition to these, and even if they 

 be absent, the angular scales of bran (fig. 21 9, 6) are found not only to irritate 

 the lining of the intestine, but prevent the complete action of the diges- 

 tive fluids attacking the aleurone grains included within the cells, so that 

 by no means is the full value of the cerealin layer secured in its passage 

 through the body. Hence whole-meal bread is rather to be regarded, at 

 least partly, as an aperient than wholly as a food. " Wheatmeal " bread, 

 as it is called, in order to distinguish it from ordinary whole-meal, is 

 formed of ''granulated" flour, the whole decorticated grain being ground 

 by a different process from that by means of millstones, so that no 

 irritating substances are present, and the full value of the grain can be 

 secured.* 



Though bran contains the most nutrition, i.e. flesh-forming ingredients, 

 it also contains the largest proportion of cellulose or indigestible matter. 

 Hence the necessity of its being very finely ground. The following is 

 Professor Church's analysis of rather coarse bran : — 



Water . 12*5 



Albuminoids and cerealin 13*3 



Indeterminate nitrogenous compounds . . 3*1 



Starch with some maltose 43*6 



Fat 3-5 



Cellulose 18-0 



Ash 6-0 



Here it will be observed that the fibrous indigestible matter forms 

 one-sixth of the bran, when it is not -j -J^ part of fine flour. Professor 

 Church adds : " If we include cerealin with the true albuminoids, the 

 nutrient ratio of this bran may be set down as 1 : 4 ; the nutrient value 

 will be 67. This ratio will be perceived to be closely the same as that of 

 a true diet, viz. 1 : 3*7. " 



Of course, in high-class milling great refinements are obtained. The 

 first grindings are sifted, and some of them are re-ground until an exceed- 

 ingly fine flour is secured for those who prefer to have the whitest bread ; 

 but it is one which is greatly deficient in flesh-forming materials. One of 

 the products is semolina, a name given to fragments of grain whicli fell 

 into the grooves of the stones, when it was so ground. These are useful 

 for puddings, being mostly of the highly nitrogenous South European 

 wheats ; and are therefore more nourishing than ordinary milk-puddings 

 made with starches, such as sago, tapioca, or corn-flour, which contain 

 no nitrogen, that element being only supplied by the milk. 



* Mr. G. Pimm, Flour Mills, Upper Wandsworth, has for the last twenty years 

 supplied an excellent meal of this kind. It should be all able to pass through an 18- 

 mesfa sieve, or at the least a very slightly coarser one (see fig. 219, 7). 



