45 § Cookery, 
barley 56. The oats 36. The Indian corn 56. Potatoes (heaped) 
70. Buckwheat about 45. 
The nutritious part of grain consists chiefly in the fecula^ or 
starch, and the gluten it contains ; not so much in the mucilage : 
not at all in the moisbire. 
Of the above substances, potatoes would be the cheapest, if it 
were not that the greatest part of their weight is moisture. In 
Ireland they are cheapest : for in Ireland, Lancashire, and Cheshire^ 
potatoes may be bought at 15 to 20 cents per bushel, heaped. 
Kice, in a rice country, is the cheapest article of diet, but not here 
in Pennsylvania. The quantity of actual nutriment in the above 
Bubstauces consisting in the greatest proportion of fecula or starch, 
next of gluten, next of mucilage, would be in this oyder, viz. 
Indian corn ? wheat ; barley ; rye ; potatoes j buckwheat ; 
oats. 
Their comparative cheajiness. will be, Indian corn : rye : bar-^ 
ley ; wheat : potatoes : buckwheat. Barley bread is very nearly 
as good as wheat bread : and abounds in fecula, Hence in Europe 
its use for beer, in preference to other grain. 
It seems clear, that in point of economy, flour should be no further* 
bolted, than to get rid of the husk or bran : if you go farther there 
is w^^ste. The converting of flour into bread, greatly increases 
both its digestible and its nutritive qualities, for it is thereby par- 
tially decomposed, the farina, the gluten, and the mucilage are 
more intimately, and, I believe, chemically blended ; and the di= 
gestive organs have less to do. The bulk also is increased, for 
lib. of fine flour will make more than IJlb. of bread. New 
bread is unwholesome, and is moreover an article of great extrava» 
gance ; from the temptation to eat more than the calls of mere 
hunger require. For the purposes of family economy, it should 
be at least one day old. This fact was well established on the 
examination of the London bakers before a committee of the 
bouse of comrnons during the scarcity of 1808, 1809. 
The toll paid for grinding grain, the troqble of transporting it 
to and from mill, and the fire employed in baking it, are equiva- 
lent, with a poor man, to one fourth of the value. In this respect, 
potatoes have a decided advantage in countries where fuel is 
scarce. 
Buckwheat and oats appear to have too much husk or bran to 
put in their claim as cheap articles of diet in this country. Rice 
Iji the middle states is too dear. The superiority of Indiaji 
