10 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
ally, and we think rightfully, expect results in com 
mon agriculture to justify all that is stated in the lecture 
room In a word, theory is valueless beyond what ex- 
perience fully sustains in practice. To cultivate rural arts 
as well as rural sciences, successfully, requires not a little 
care, study and patient devotion to one purpose. Any 
one who will undertake to answ'er the question, why ag 
riculture has made so little progress in five thousand 
years can hardly fail to see many impediments in the way 
of its improvement. Tillage for any .length of time could 
never inform a man as to the nature of the substances 
taken out of the earth to make any plant which 
he might chance to cultivate. Hence, without the aid 
of analytical chemistry he could never have known what 
are the elements of simple water, of carbonic acid gas, of 
the atmosphere, nor of the soil, or its products. With the 
light of chemistry, geology, physiology, and other natur- 
al sciences, the practical man may now modify his farm- 
ing in a thousand ways to his advantage. He is, how- 
ever, often in doubt what changes to make. 
These doubts can only be removed by wisely conduct- 
ed experiments. Instead of requiring a million farmers 
to try, each for himself, any experiments that may be need 
ed to settle a point in tillage or husbandry, it would be 
vastly more economical and satisfactory, to give a few re- 
liable men all the necessary, facilities for making the re- 
quired experiments, which they could execute for the 
equal benefit of the whole agricultural community. The 
fact should never be overlooked that valuable experiments 
in agriculture are generally expensive ; and hence, where 
funds are not provided for that purpose, and much pains 
taken to avoid error, experiments are either not reliable, 
or not instructive. 
Substantial advancement in any calling implies the de- 
velopment of new truths, and of unquestioned additions to 
the aggregate stock of knowledge. If we can add nothing 
to our present mental capital in our profession, then our 
whole capacity for improvement is exhausted. Such an 
assumption would be as discreditable to our intellects, as 
prejudicial to our pecuniary interests. There is a way in 
which man’s capacity for improvements may be indefin- 
itely expanded in agricultural knov/Iedge, as in that of 
other honorable and useful callings. The happy union of 
art and science, of mental culture with field culture, will 
alone attain this noble result. Rural sciences cannot ad- 
vance without the assistance of rural arts. Believing these 
views to be sound, we are anxious to persuade the public 
to make provision for combining researches in the ele- 
ments of agricultural practice and sciences at the same 
educational institution. Such researches may be expect 
ed, not only to elucidate all the more important facts now 
known in our profession but to extend our knowledge in- 
to unexplored regions, and bring to light new truths of 
great importance. Once on th« right track, our progress 
will be that of railroad speed compared with the slow 
motion of the old-fashioned ox-cart. 
We cannot but regard it as a misfortune that the masses 
are so slow to discover the propriety of studying the 
scientific principles of agriculture in connection with their 
practice. From the lack of populai sympathy no legisla- 
ture in this country has founded an agricultural school ; 
nor has the experiment of such an institution ever been 
fairly tried in this Republic. Public opinion is every- 
* where against the scheme, acting on the wrong principle 
of condemning a purely educational idea without a trial. 
Coming generations will not be so hostile to agricultural 
science, but foster it with the most anxious solicitude for its 
invaluable fruits. 
Applying science to every pursuit in civilized commu- 
nities, no art will be left to grope its way in the dark, 
as the art of agriculture now does; but all will en- 
joy the benefits of sound, well tested principles to guide 
their operations. 
A ll useful arts will flourish when based on nature’s laws' 
and cultivated for the improvement of society. Now, the 
leading end aimed at is not so much to serve and elevate 
mankind, as to gratify an idle love of riches for useless dis- 
play and mischievous vanity. A taste for science has to 
be created before its union with agricultural and mechani- 
cal labor can be general. Slowly, but certainly such a 
taste is growing up in the popular understanding. Per- 
haps nothing better can be done at this time to promote 
she culture of this taste than to extend the circulation of 
this journal. It aims to diffuse as much science among 
agriculturists as will be acceptable to its readers. As a 
medium through which thousands in several States may 
constantly teach one another, it is rendering the public an 
invaluable service ; while at the same time, it is working 
an auspicious change in public opinion in favor of agri- 
cultural literature, text-books, schools, experimental farms 
and plantations. Our agricultural societies are also 
worthy of generous support as a means of improvement. 
All tfie great achievements of the age in which we live 
have been wrought by wise co-operative efforts; and the 
principle of association is yet to confer infinitely greater 
benefits on the study and practice of rural economy. As 
an isolated farmer, the advantages of each are small indeed 
for high professional advancement, and intellectual cul- 
ture. To enlarge and improve these too narrow advan- 
tages is the hope and the wish of our heart. It is tlie ob- 
ject to the attainment of which our humble life is devoted. 
L. 
NUTRITION IN VARIOUS GRAINS. 
Wheat is one of the most important of all crops. The 
grain contains from 50 to 70 per cent, of starch, from 10 
to 20 per cent, of gluten, and from 3 to 5 per cent, of fatty 
matter. The proportion of gluten is said to be the largest 
in the grain of quite warm countries. 
It is a singular flict that, in all the seed of wheat and 
other grains, the principal part of the oil lies near or in 
the skin, as also does a large portion of gluten. The bran 
owes to this much of its nutritive and fattening qualities' 
Thus, in refining our flour to the utmost possible extent, 
we diminish somewhat its value for food. The phosphates 
of the ash also lie, to a great degree, in the skin. The best 
fine flour contains about 70 pounds of starch to each hun- 
dred. The residue of the hundred pounds consists of 10 or 
12 pounds of gluten, 6 to 8 pounds of sugar and gum, and 
10 to 14 pounds of water, with a little oil. 
Rye flour more nearly resembles wheaten flour in its 
composition, than any other ; it has, however, more of 
certain gummy and sugary substances, which make it 
tenacious, and also impart a sweetish taste. In baking all 
grains and roots which have much starch in them, a cer- 
tain change takes place in their chemical composition. By 
baking flour becomes more nutritious, and more easily 
dijrested, because more soluble. 
Barley contains rather less starch than wheat, also less 
sugar and gum. There is little gluten, but a substance 
somewhat like it, and containing about the same amount 
of nitrogen 
Oat meal is little used as food in this country, but it is 
equal, if not superior, in its nutritious qualities, to flour 
from any of the other grains ; superior, I have no doubt, 
to most of the fine wheaten flour of the northern latitudes. 
It contains from 10 to 18 per cent, of a body having about 
the same amount of nitrogen or gluten. Besides this- 
there is a considerable quantity of sugar and gum, and 
from 5 to (> per cent of oil or fatty matter, which may be 
obtained in the form of a clear, fragrant liquid. Oatmeal 
cakes owe their peculiar agreeable taste and smell to this 
oil. Oat meal, then, has not only an abundance of sub- 
stance containing nitrogen, but is also quite fattening. It 
is, in, fact, an excellent food for working animals, and, as 
