THE GRAIN CROPS, EDIBLE ROOTS, AND FARINACEOUS PLANTS FORMING THE
BREAD STUFFS OF COMMERCE.
The vegetable substances, from which man derives his principal
sustenance, such as the nutritious cereal grains, the tuberous rooted
plants and the trees yielding farina, are very widely diffused, and
necessarily occupy the main attention of the cultivator; their
products forming the most important staples of domestic and foreign
commerce. The cereal grasses and roots, cultivated in temperate
regions, such as wheat, barley, oats, rye, and the potato, are so well
known, and have been so fully described by agricultural writers that I
shall not go much into details as to their varieties, culture, &c.,
but confine myself chiefly to their distribution, produce, statistics,
and commercial importance. The food plants may be most conveniently
arranged under three heads. Firstly--the Grain crops and legumes,
which comprises the European cultivated grasses, wheat, barley, oats,
&c.; and the tropical ones of rice, maize, millet, Guinea corn, &c.
Secondly--Palms and other trees yielding farina, including the sago
palms, plantain and banana, and the bread fruit tree. And Thirdly--the
edible Root crops and Starch producing plants, which are a somewhat
extensive class, the chief of which, however, are the common potato,
yams, cocos or eddoes, sweet potatoes, the bitter and sweet cassava or
manioc, the arrowroot and other plants yielding starch in more or less
purity.
There is a great diversity of food, from the humble oak bark bread of
the Norwegian peasant, or the Brahmin, whose appetite is satisfied
with vegetables, to the luxurious diet of a Hungarian Magnate at
Vienna.
The bread stuffs, as they are popularly termed, particularly wheat and
wheat flour, maize, and rice, form very important articles of
commerce, and enter largely into cultivation in various countries for
home consumption and export. Russia, India, and the United States,
carry on a very considerable trade in grain with other countries. Our
local production being insufficient for food and manufactures, we
import yearly immense quantities of grain and flour. In the four years
ending 1852, the annual quantity of corn, of various, kinds, imported
into the United Kingdom, exclusive of flour and meal, rice, sago, &c.,
averaged 8,085,903 quarters.
The flour and meal imported, omitting sago, arrowroot and other
starches, averaged in the same period 4,143,603 cwts. annually.
The annual imports of breadstuffs for food, taking the average of the
four years ending with 1852, may be thus summed up--
Tons.
Corn and grain, 8,085,903 quarters, at 60 lb. the bushel 173,270
Flour and meal 207,180
Rice 40,817
Potatoes 42,440
Sago, arrowroot, &c. 5,000
-------
Total 468,707
Some portion of this quantity is doubtless consumed in the arts--as
starch for stiffening linens, &c., and for other purposes not coming
under the term of food, but I have purposely left out in the
calculation about 30,000 to 40,000 quarters of rice in the husk
annually imported.
Ireland took, in 1849, of foreign grain 2,115,129 quarters; 1,683,687
quarters in 1850; and 2,504,229 in 1851; as well as 256,837 cwts. of
various kinds of meal and flour in 1849; 220,107 cwts. in 1850; and
341,680 cwts. in 1851. England also supplied her with about 500,000
quarters of grain and 350,000 cwts. of meal in each of those years.
The comparative returns of the importations of grain into the United
Kingdom for the last four years, are as follows, in quarters:--
1852. 1851. 1850. 1849.
Wheat 3,068,892 3,812,009 3,738,995 3,845,378
Barley 656,737 829,564 1,035,903 1,381,008
Oats 995,480 1,198,529 1,154,473 1,267,106
Rye 10,023 24,609 98,836 240,566
Beans 371,250 318,502 443,306 457,933
Peas 107,017 99,399 181,419 234,366
Maize 1,479,891 1,807,636 1,277,071 2,224,459
Other sorts 8,085 3,432 868 1,150
--------- --------- --------- ---------
Quarters 6,667,375 8,124,280 7,930,871 9,651,966
The meal and flour imported in the same years, in cwts., were as
follows:--
1852. 1851. 1850. 1849.
Wheat 3,889,583 5,314,414 3,819,440 3,349,839
Barley 212 34 108 224
Oats 521 2,525 5,999 40,230
Rye 92 6,493 964 18,468
Indian corn 742 9,561 11,334 101,683
Other sorts 54 343 163 1,396
--------- --------- --------- ---------
Cwts. 3,891,195 5,323,370 3,838,008 3,511,840
Before the famine in Ireland the imports seldom reached 20 millions of
bushels of grain and meal of all kinds. In 1848 our imports were
about 60 millions; in 1849, 85 millions; in 1850, 68 millions; in
1851, 75½ millions; in 1852, 69 millions, with good wheat harvests;
showing the great shock received and the slowness of recovery.
With a rapidly increasing population in all parts of the civilized
world, the production of bread is obviously the first object to be
sought after, alike by the statesman and the peasant. I scarcely dare
give the calculation of the immense amount which would be realised in
any great country, by the single saving of a bushel to an acre, in the
quantity of seed ordinarily sown. The same result would follow if an
additional bushel could be produced in the annual average yield of the
wheat crop.
According to Mr. H. Colman, the annual amount of seed for wheat sown
in France is estimated at 32,491,978 bushels. If we could suppose a
third of this saved, the saving would amount to 10,863,959 bushels per
year. Suppose an annual increase of the crops of five bushels per
acre, this would give an increase of production of 54,319,795 bushels.
Add this, under improved cultivation, to the amount of seed saved, and
the result would be 65,183,754 bushels--I believe under an improved
agriculture this is quite practicable.
An eminent agricultural writer placed the average yield in England at
eighteen bushels per acre; some years since a man of sanguine
temperament rated it at over thirty bushels. In France it is stated,
in the best districts, to average twenty-two bushels. These evidently
are wholly conjectural estimates. In England Mr. Colman states that
fifty bushels per acre were reported to him on the best authority, as
the yield upon a large farm in a very favorable season. More than
eighty bushels have been returned, upon what is deemed ample
testimony, to the Royal Agricultural Society of England, as the
product of a single acre. In France Mr. Colman had, upon credible
authority, reports of forty, forty-four and seventy-two bushels. It
would be of immense importance to any government to know the exact
produce grown in any county, or district, or in the whole country; and
this might be obtained by compelling, on the part of the owner or
cultivator, an actual return of his crop; but it is of little use to
found such returns on estimates purely conjectural.
From the best statistical accounts that can be obtained, the wheat
annually produced in the United Kingdom.
England, Scotland, Ireland is 111,681,320 bushels.
In France it is 198,660,000 "
United States 100,503,899 "
The amount of seed ordinarily sown to the acre in France is from two
to three bushels. The return of crop for the seed sown is represented
as in the best districts averaging 6.25 for one; in the least
productive 5.40 for one. My readers may be curious to know the
calculations which have been made in some other countries in regard to
this matter.
CENTRAL EUROPE
Increase
Countries. Year. for seed sown.
Spain 1828 6 for one
Portugal 1786 10 "
Tuscany 10 "
Plains of Lucca 15 "
Piedmont--Plains of Marengo 4 to five
Bologna 15 "
Roman States--Pontine marshes 20 "
Ordinary lands 8 "
Kingdom of Naples--best districts 20 "
Ordinary lands 8 "
Malta--the best lands 38 to 64 "
Ordinary lands 22, 25, 30 "
NORTHERN EUROPE.
Sweden and Norway 1838 4.50 for one
Denmark 1827 6 "
Russia, a good harvest 1819 5 "
---- province of Tambof 1821 4.50 "
---- provinces north of 50 deg. latitude 1821 3 "
Poland 1826 8 "
England 1830 9 "
Scotland 1830 8 "
Ireland 1825 10 "
Holland 1828 7.50 "
Belgium 1828 11 "
Bavaria 1827 7 to 8 "
Prussia 1817 6 "
Austria 1812 7.05 "
Hungary 1812 4 "
Switzerland, lands of an inferior quality 1825 3 "
Of a good quality, 8; of the best quality 12 "
France, inferior lands, 3; best lands 6 "
(Statistique des Cereales de la France par Moreau de Jonnes.)
STATISTICS OF WHEAT CULTURE.
As wheat forms the principal nutritious food of the world, claiming
the industrious application of labor over the greater part of Europe,
throughout the temperate regions of Asia, along the northern kingdoms
of Africa, and extending far into the northern and southern regions of
the American continents; as it has been cultivated from time
immemorial, and has produced in various climates and soils many
varieties; it is surprising that so little is generally known of the
distinct varieties best adapted to particular climates--and that in
Great Britain and the United States we have yet to learn the variety
which will yield the largest and best amount of human food!
At the Industrial Exhibition in 1851, twenty-six premiums only were
distributed for specimens of wheat; of these, five were awarded to
British farmers, three to France, three to Russia, three to Australia,
three to the United States, and one each or severally to other
nations. Some beautiful specimens of wheat were exhibited from South
Australia, weighing seventy pounds a bushel; which were eagerly sought
after for seed wheat by our farmers and the colonists of Canada and
the United States. But as is well observed by Professor Lindley, it
has no peculiar constitutional characteristics by which it may be
distinguished from other wheats. Its superior quality is entirely
owing to local conditions; to the peculiar temperature, the brilliant
light, the soil, and those other circumstances which characterise the
climate of South Australia.
All kinds of wheat contain water in greater or lesser quantities. Its
amount is greater in cold countries than in warm. In Alsace from 16 to
20 per cent.; England from 14 to 17 per cent.; United States from 12
to 14 per cent.; Africa and Sicily from 9 to 11 per cent. This
accounts for the fact, that the same weight of southern flour yields
more bread than northern, English wheat yields 13 lbs. more to the
quarter than Scotch. Alabama flour, it is said, yields 20 per cent.
more than that of Cincinnati. And in general American flour, according
to one of the most extensive London bakers, absorbs 8 or 10 per cent.
more of its own weight of water in being made into bread than the
English. The English grain is fuller and rounder than the American,
being puffed up with moisture.
Every year the total loss in the United States from moisture in wheat
and flour is estimated at four to five million dollars. To remedy this
great evil, the grain should be well ripened before harvesting, and
well dried before being stored in a good dry granary. Afterwards, in
grinding and in transporting, it should be carefully protected from
wet, and the flour be kept from exposure to the atmosphere. The best
precaution is kiln-drying. By this process the wheat and flour are
passed over iron plates heated by steam to the boiling point. From
each barrel of flour 16 or 17 pounds of water are thus expelled,
leaving still four or five per cent. in the flour, an amount too small
to do injury. If all the water be expelled, the quality of the flour
is deteriorated.
The mode of ascertaining the amount of water in flour is this; take a
small sample, say five ounces, and weigh it carefully; put it into a
dry vessel, which should be heated by boiling water; after six or
seven hours, weigh it; its loss of weight shows the original amount of
water.
The next object is to ascertain the amount of gluten. Gluten is an
adhesive, pasty mass, and consists of several different principles,
though its constitution has not yet been satisfactorily determined. It
is chiefly the nutritious portion of the flour. The remaining
principles are mostly starch, sugar and gum. On an average their
relative amount in 100 parts are about as follows:--
Average. Kobanga wheat, the best.
Water 13 12
Gluten 12 16
Starch 67 60
Sugar and Gum 8 8
--- ---
100 97
Professor Beck examined thirty-three different samples from various
parts of the United States and Europe, and he gives the preference to
the Kobanga variety from the south of Russia. There would probably be
a prejudice against it in this country, from the natural yellowish hue
of its flour and bread.
The value of the vegetable food, grain, potatoes, rice and apples
exported from the United States within the past few years is thus set
down:--
Dollars.
1847 57,970,356
1848 25,185,647
1849 25,642,362
1850 15,822,273
To this has to be added nine or ten million dollars more for tobacco,
72 million dollars for cotton, and 180,000 dollars for hops and other
minor agricultural staples--making the value of the raw vegetable
exports about 98 million dollars. There is further the value of the
products of the forest, timber, ashes and bark, tar, &c., which are
equal to nearly seven millions more, as shown by the following
figures:--
Dollars.
1847 5,248,928
1848 6,415,297
1849 5,261,766
1850 6,590,037
It appears from an official document of the American Treasury
Department, that the average value of the breadstuffs and provisions
annually exported from the United States from 1821 to 1836 inclusive,
was 12,792,000 dolls.; in 1837 and 1838, about 9,600,000 dolls.; from
1839 to 1846, 16,176,000 dolls.; and for the last seven years as
follows:--
Dollars.
1846 27,701,121
1847 68,701,921
1848 37,472,751
1849 38,155,507
1850 26,051,373
1851 21,948,651
1852 25,857,027
Out of the wheat crop in the United States in 1846 of 110 million
bushels raised, 10 millions were used for seed, starch, &c.; 72
consumed for food, and 28 million exported. The 460 million bushels of
Indian corn raised, were thus disposed of; exported to foreign
countries 22 million bushels; sold to and consumed by non-producers,
100 million; consumed on the farms and plantations of the producers
for human and animal food, seed, &c., 338 million bushels.
The United States now produce about 120 million bushels of wheat, and
nearly 600 million bushels of corn. Their surplus of wheat, for
export, may be taken at 20 million bushels, and of Indian corn an
almost unlimited quantity. They export about one and a quarter million
barrels of flour, and about one million of bushels of wheat to other
markets besides those of Great Britain or her North American colonies,
viz., to Europe, Asia, Africa, the West Indies and South America,
California and Australia, manufactured flour being the article
required for these latter markets. Nearly four million bushels of
Indian corn, and 300,000 barrels of corn meal, are exported from the
United States to the West Indies and other foreign markets.
From the abstracts of statistical returns prepared at the American
Census office, it appears that Pennsylvania, in 1850, was the largest
wheat producing State of the Union. I have had the curiosity to
compare the most prominent States in respect to this crop, and give
them below, with the crop of each, as shown by the returns:--
Bushels.
Pennsylvania 15,482,191
Ohio 14,967,056
Virginia 14,516,900
New York 13,073,000
Michigan 4,918,000
Maryland 4,494,680
That the United States could export 6,000,000 bushels of wheat, and
its equivalent in flour in 1845; 13,000,000 in 1846, 26,000,000 in
1847, and then fell back to 13,000,000 in 1848, and 6,000,000 in 1849,
with their production of wheat constantly increasing throughout this
period, shows a wonderful elasticity, and extensive home market. If
the price of wheat is higher in proportion than for corn, the
Americans export the former and consume the latter; if the demand for
corn be also great, they kill their hogs and export corn, for the pork
will keep. If there be no great demand for either, they eat their
surplus wheat, feed their hogs with the corn, and export pork as
having the greatest value in the least bulk.
DESTINATION OF FLOUR SHIPPED FROM THE UNITED STATES.
-------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------
WHERE TO. | 1847 | 1849 | 1850 | 1851
-------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------
Swedish West Indies | 7,366| 7,573| 8,757| 5,315
Danish ditto | 52,150| 49,568| 44,802| 60,102
Dutch East Indies | 1,150| 4,625| 1,600| 1,873
Dutch West Indies | 11,387| 17,221| 18,354| 19,217
Holland and Belgium | 73,871| 727| 1,177| 594
England |2,475,076| 953,815| 369,777|1,004,783
Gibraltar | 23,974| 6,265| 2,543| 195
British East Indies | 3,034| 791| 1,646| 1,600
British West Indies | 320,363| 303,551| 250,776| 294,731
British American Colonies| 272,299| 294,891| 244,072| 252,380
France | 612,641| -- | -- | --
French West Indies | 28,966| 5,554| 5,480| 7,902
Hayti | 40,257| 10,903| 31,504| 43,867
Cuba | 50,046| 7,154| 5,584| 5,611
Spanish West Indies | 17,780| 6,429| 7,074| 2,285
Madeira | 4,856| 4,358| 6,321| 7,006
Cape de Verds | 1,634| 501| 455| 838
Mexico | 5,928| 11,633| 9,736| 14,964
Honduras | 10,686| 4,125| 4,725| 5,912
Central America | 550| 4,180| 746| 2,573
Columbia | 39,403| 32,251| 41,072| 47,477
Brazil | 270,473| 328,129| 295,415| 374,711
Argentine Republic | 10,684| 6,599| 4,901| 22,612
Chili | 5,977| 5,129| 2,848| 4,327
South America | 2,128| -- | 40| 200
West Indies | 4,902| 3,984| 1,702| 4,079
Africa | 25,728| 4,617| 5,524| 5,430
North-west Coast | 764| 1,180| 858| 2,593
Other ports | 29,866| 35,017| 18,949| 19,158
|---------|---------|---------|---------
Total--Barrels |4,382,496|2,108,013|1,385,448|2,202,335
|---------|---------|---------|---------
Average price | 5.95| 5.35| 5.00| 4.77
-------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------
Wheat, where the soil and the climate are adapted to its growth, and
the requisite progress has been made in its culture, is decidedly
preferred to all other grains, and, next to maize, is the most
important crop in the United States, not only on account of its
general use for bread, but for its safety and convenience for
exportation. It is not known to what country it is indigenous, any
more than any other cultivated cereals, all of which, no doubt, have
been essentially improved by man. By some, wheat is considered to have
been coeval with the creation, as it is known that upwards of a
thousand years before our era it was cultivated, and a superior
variety had been attained. It has steadily followed the progress of
civilisation from the earliest times, in all countries where it would
grow. In 1776 there was entailed upon America an enduring calamity, in
consequence of the introduction of the Hessian or wheat fly, which was
supposed to have been brought from Germany in some straw, employed in
the debarkation of Howe's troops on the west end of Long Island. From
that point the insect gradually spread in various directions, at the
rate of twenty or thirty miles a year, and the wheat of the entire
regions east of the Alleghanies is now more or less infested with the
larva, as well as in large portions of the States bordering on the
Ohio and Mississippi, and on the great Lakes; and so great have been
the ravages of these insects that the cultivation of this grain has in
many places been abandoned.
The geographical range of the wheat region in the Eastern Continent
and Australia, lies principally between the 30th and 60th parallels of
north latitude, and the 30th and 40th degrees south, being chiefly
confined to France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Sicily, Greece, Turkey,
Russia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Prussia, Netherlands,
Belgium, Great Britain, Ireland, Northern and Southern Africa,
Tartary, India, China, Australia, Van Diemen's Land, and Japan. Along
the Atlantic portions of the Western Continent, it embraces the tract
lying between the 30th and 50th parallels, and in the country
westward of the Rocky Mountains, one or two more degrees further
north. Along the west coast of South America, as well as in situations
within the torrid zone, sufficiently elevated above the level of the
sea, and properly irrigated by natural or artificial means, abundant
crops are often produced.
The principal districts of the United States in which this important
grain is produced in the greatest abundance, and where it forms a
leading article of commerce, embrace the States of New York, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky,
Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Iowa. The chief
varieties cultivated in the Northern and Eastern States are the white
flint, tea, Siberian, bald, Black Sea, and the Italian spring wheat.
In the middle and Western States, the Mediterranean, the Virginia
white May, the blue stem, the Indiana, the Kentucky white bearded, the
old red chafet, and the Talavera. The yield varies from ten to forty
bushels and upwards per acre, weighing, per bushel, from fifty-eight
to sixty-seven pounds.
It appears that on the whole crop of the United States there was a
gain during the ten years ending 1850, of 15,645,373 bushels. The crop
of New England decreased from 2,014,000 to 1,078,000 bushels,
exhibiting a decline of 936,000 bushels, and indicating the attention
of farmers has been much withdrawn from the culture of wheat. Grouping
the States from the Hudson to the Potomac, including the district of
Columbia, it appears that they produced, in 1849, 35,085,000 bushels,
against 29,936,000 in 1839. In Virginia there was an increase of
1,123,000 bushels. These States embrace the oldest wheat-growing
region of the country, and that in which the soil and climate seem to
be adapted to promote the permanent culture of the grain. The increase
of production in the ten years has been 6,272,000 bushels, equal to
15.6 per cent. The area tilled in these States is 36,000,000 acres,
only thirty per cent. of the whole amount returned, while the
proportion of wheat produced is forty-six per cent. In North Carolina
there has been an increase of 170,000 bushels, but in the Southern
States generally there was a considerable decrease. Indiana, Illinois,
Michigan, and Wisconsin contributed to the general aggregate under the
sixth census only 9,800,000 bushels; under the last they are shown to
have produced upwards of 25,000,000 bushels, an amount equal to the
whole increase in the United States for the period.
When we see the growth of wheat keeping pace with the progress of
population in the oldest States of the Union, we need have no
apprehension of a decline in the cultivation of this important crop.
The amount of flour exported from New Jersey in 1751, was 6,424
barrels. From Philadelphia in 1752,125,960 barrels, besides 85,500
bushels of wheat; in 1767, 198,816 barrels, besides 367,500 bushels of
wheat; in 1771, 252,744 barrels. From Savannah, in 1771, 7,200 lbs.
From Virginia, for some years annually preceding the revolution,
800,000 bushels of wheat. The total exports of flour from the United
States:
in 1791 were 619,681 barrels, besides 1,018,339 bushels of wheat;
in 1800, 653,052 barrels, besides 26,853 bushels of wheat;
in 1810, 798,431 barrels, besides 325,924 bushels of wheat;
in 1820-21, 1,056,119 barrels, besides 25,821 bushels of wheat;
in 1830-31, 1,806,529 barrels, besides 408,910 bushels of wheat;
in 1840-41, 1,515,817 barrels, besides 868,585 bushels of wheat;
in 1845-46, 2,289,476 barrels, besides 1,613,795 bushels of wheat;
in 1846-47, 4,382,496 barrels, besides 4,399,951 bushels of wheat;
in 1850-51, 2,202,335 barrels, besides 1,026,725 bushels of wheat.
In the London Exhibition very little wheat was exhibited equal to that
from the United States, especially that from Genessee county, in the
State of New York--a soft white variety, to the exhibitor of which a
prize medal was awarded by the Royal Commissioners. The red
Mediterranean wheat exhibited from the United States attracted much
attention. The wheat from South Australia was probably superior to any
exhibited, while much from the United States fell but little behind,
and was unquestionably next in quality.
From the Second Report on the Breadstuffs of the United States, made
to the Commissioner of Patents, by Lewis C. Beck, M.D., I am induced
to make some extracts. He states:--
The analyses of several samples, the growth of various foreign
countries, have afforded me an opportunity of comparing the American
and foreign wheats and flours. With a few exceptions of peculiar
varieties, it will be seen from the results that with ordinary care
the wheat of this country will compare advantageously with that of
any other. Indeed, on reviewing my analyses, I question whether
there is any part of the world where this grain is generally of a
finer quality than it is in the United States. But all the
advantages which we possess in this respect will be of little avail
so long as inferior and damaged breadstuffs are shipped from our
ports.
In addition to the analyses which I have executed of the various
samples of wheat and wheat flour according to the mode heretofore
pursued, I have performed a series of experiments for the purpose of
settling the important question in regard to the relative value of
the fine flour of wheat, and the "whole meal." I have also consulted
every work within my reach which could throw any light upon the
different points that have presented themselves during the progress
of the investigation.
The large number of samples of wheat and wheat flour which have been
placed in my hands for examination, have left me no time for the
analysis of our other breadstuffs.
It cannot be denied that the amount shipped to foreign ports during
1849 is considerably less than for the two preceding years. In the
meantime, however, a new and important market has been opened in our
territories on the Pacific. It may also be safely affirmed that the
causes for foreign demand, and which must hereafter operate, still
remain. These are the cheapness of land in this country, and the
peculiar adaptation of our soil and climate to the growth of the two
important cereals, wheat and maize.
Another fact, it seems to me, is of sufficient interest in
connection with this subject, to be here noticed. The failure of the
potato crop in various parts of the world for several years past has
engaged the attention of scientific and practical men.
Unfortunately, the nature of the blight which has seized upon this
tuber has eluded the most careful inquiries; but it has been shown
by well-conducted analyses that potatoes at their late prices are
the most expensive kind of farinaceous food. This will be evident
from the following statement:--
"Potatoes contain from about seventy to seventy-nine per cent. of
water, while the proportion in wheat flour is from twelve to
fourteen per cent; and while the gluten and albumen in potatoes
scarcely rise to one per cent., in wheat flour the range may be set
down at from nine to thirteen per cent. Again, the non-nitrogenous
principles are as about seventy-five per cent. in wheat flour
against fifteen or sixteen in potatoes. In short, whilst potatoes
supply only twenty per cent. of heat-forming and nutritious
principles, taken together, wheat supplies more than seventy per
cent. of the former, and more than tea of the latter. The value of
wheat to potatoes, therefore, is at least four to one; or, if wheat
sells at fifteen shillings sterling per cwt., potatoes to be equally
cheap, ought to sell at between three and four shillings."
The preceding results, for which I am principally indebted to Dr.
Daubeny, Professor of Chemistry at Oxford,[25] show that unless a
great change occurs in the culture of the potato, there must be an
increased demand for other kinds of farinaceous food. And it is
worthy of notice that while this blight is one of the causes which
bring to our shores the starving population of Europe, the raising
of the cereals not only furnishes profitable employment to the
emigrant, but enables him to make the best return to those who are
still obliged to remain.
_Adaptation of the soil and climate of the United States to the
culture of the cereals_.--That the soil and climate of many portions
of the United States are well adapted to the cultivation of the more
important cereals, is fully shown by the results of all the
researches which have thus far been prosecuted. I have indeed seen
it asserted that the climate of England is the best for the
cultivation of wheat, and preferable to any in our country; its
humidity being the peculiarity to which this superiority is
ascribed.[26] But this is undoubtedly the testimony of a too partial
witness. A recent statement by an English author is the result of a
more correct knowledge of the facts. He acknowledges that there is
no ground for the expectation which has been entertained concerning
the advantageous growth of maize in England. "Nor is ours," says he,
"the most favorable country for wheat, but skill in husbandry has
overcome great difficulties."[27] The mistake on this subject may
have originated from the occurrence of a larger and plumper grain in
the more humid climate; but analysis shows that the small grain
raised in the hotter and drier air oftentimes greatly surpasses the
former in its nutritious value.
Russia is said to be the great rival of this country in the growth
of wheat, but I think it doubtful whether she possesses superior
natural advantages; and I am sure she will find it difficult to
compete with the industry and skill which here characterize the
operations of husbandry, and the manufacture and shipment of
breadstuffs.
_Export of sophisticated and damaged flour_.--It is a matter of deep
regret that circumstances have occurred which must have a most
injurious influence upon the trade in breadstuffs between this
country and Great Britain. I refer to the mixtures of damaged,
inferior, and good kinds of flour, which it appears on authentic
testimony have been largely exported during the past year. Whether
this fraudulent operation, which is said to have been principally
confined to New York, is the result of the change in the inspection
laws, as some assert, I am unable to say. But it requires no great
foresight to predict that, if continued, it will create a distrust
of our breadstuffs in foreign ports which it will be very difficult
to remove. It cannot but excite the indignation of the many
honorable dealers, that the unworthy cupidity of a few individuals
should lead to such disastrous consequences.
I have as yet been unable to obtain samples of these sophisticated
flours, and the only information which I have in regard to them is
the general fact above stated, and concerning the truth of which
there can be little doubt. No means should be left untried to
devise some mode by which these frauds can be easily and certainly
detected.
_Injury sustained by breadstuffs during their transport and
shipment._--During the past year, I have had abundant means of
determining the nature of the injuries which are often sustained by
our breadstuffs in their transport from the particular districts in
which they are grown and manufactured to our commercial depots, and
in their shipment to foreign ports. As this is one of the most
important points connected with these researches, I have devoted
much time to its investigation. From the results of numerous
analyses, I think it may be safely asserted, that of the wheat flour
which arrives in England from various ports of the United States, a
large proportion is more or less injured during the voyage. The same
remark may be made in regard to many of the samples sent from the
Western States to the city of New York. Their nutritive value is
considerably impaired, and without more care than is usually
exercised, they are entirely unfit for export.
In my former report, I adverted to one of the great causes of the
deterioration which our breadstuffs often suffer during their
transport and shipment. This was the undue proportion of the great
disorganizing substance, water, under the influence of what usually
occurs, viz., an elevation of temperature above the ordinary
standard. My recent investigations have served only to strengthen
these views. There is no doubt that these are the conditions which
cause the change of the non-nitrogenous principles into acids (the
lactic or acetic), while a portion of the gluten is thus also
consumed.
I have tried a series of experiments in reference to the action of
moisture upon various samples of wheat and wheat flour. The samples
were placed for twelve hours in the oven of a bath with a double
casing, containing a boiling saturated solution of common salt, the
temperature of which was about 220 deg. Fahr. Subjected to this
test,
100 grains of Milwaukie wheat lost 12.10 grains.
" " Guilderland (Holland) wheat lost 9.35 "
" " Polish Odessa red wheat " 10.55 "
" " Soft Russian wheat " 8.55 "
" " Kobanga wheat " 8.15 "
After an exposure of the dried samples to the air for two or three
days, they increased in weight from one to three grains in the
hundred originally employed.
Nineteen different samples of wheat flour, which lost by exposure to
the above heat from ten to fourteen grains in the one hundred, when
similarly exposed to the air for eighteen hours, again increased in
weight from 8.40 to 11.60 in the hundred grains originally employed.
These experiments show, what might indeed have been predicted as to
the general result, that wheat in grain, if not less liable to
injury than flour, yet if once properly dried, suffers much less
from a subsequent exposure to air and moisture.
It is now ascertained that in presence of a considerable proportion
of water, wheat flour under the influence of heat undergoes a low
degree at least of lactic fermentation, which will account for the
_souring_ of the ordinary samples when exposed to warm or humid
climates. The same result will inevitably follow from their careless
exposure in the holds of vessels. That this is particularly the case
with many of the cargoes of wheat flour shipped to Great Britain,
there is little reason to doubt. This may be partly owing to the
great humidity of the English climate, as the deterioration is
observed as well in the flour which is the produce of that country
as in that which is received from abroad.
It is stated by Mr. Edlin, quoted in an article on Baking, in the
_Encyclopædia Britannica_, that, "as a general rule, the London
flour" is decidedly bad. The gluten generally wants the adhesiveness
which characterizes the gluten of good wheat."
I have observed that, in the analyses of some of the samples of
damaged flour, the proportions of what is set down under the head of
glucose and dextrine are unusually large. This is perhaps due to the
change produced in the starch by the action of diastase, and which
may under certain circumstances be formed in wheat flour. It would
seem, according to M. Guérin, that starch may thus be acted on even
at slightly elevated temperatures. In one of his experiments, at a
temperature no higher than 68 deg. Fahr., a quantity of starch, at
the end of twenty-four hours, was converted into syrup, which
yielded seventy-seven per cent. of saccharine matter.[28] 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 breadstuffs 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 think 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
intended 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 cylinder 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 ascertained that
wheat flour, 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.
Now 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 dryness which, with ordinary care, shall protect them from
subsequent injury; 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 suspended 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 winter, 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
employed.[29] And it is very certain that the transport and shipment
of grain in bulk, as usually conducted, are attended with great
loss. This difficulty might be removed at a trifling expense by
adopting the plan suggested in the preceding report, and to which I
would again respectfully call the attention of those who are engaged
in this branch of trade.
I might here adduce a mass of testimony showing the importance of
the matters just referred to, but will only advert to the following
statements, which although made in allusion principally to maize,
are equally applicable to our other breadstuffs. Maize meal, if kept
too long, "is liable to become rancid, and it is then more or less
unfit for use. In the shipments made to the West Indies, the meal is
commonly kiln-dried, to obviate as much as possible this tendency to
rancidity." "When ground very fine, maize meal suffers a change by
exposure to the air. It is oxygenated. It is upon the same principle
that the juice of an apple, after a little exposure to the air, is
oxygenated, and changes its character and taste. If the flour could
be bolted _in vacuo_, it would not be changed." "Intelligent writers
speak of the necessity of preparing corn for exportation by
kiln-drying as indispensable. Without that process, corn is very
liable to become heated and musty, so as to be unfit for food for
either man or beast. The kiln-dried maize meal from the Brandywine
Mills, &c., made from the yellow corn, has almost monopolized the
West India trade. This process is indispensable, if we export maize
to Europe. James Candy says that from fifty years experience he has
learned the necessity of this process with corn intended for
exportation." "I have often found the corn from our country when it
reached its destination, ruined by heating on the voyage. It had
become musty and of little or no value. Kiln-drying is absolutely
necessary to preserve it for exportation. We must learn and practice
the best mode of kiln-drying it.[30]"
_The nutritious value of the "whole meal" of Wheat, as compared
with that of the fine flour_.--The question whether what is
called the whole meal of wheat, or that which is obtained by the
mixture of the bran, contains more nutritious matter than the
fine flour, is one of great importance. In my former report, I
adverted to the statement made in regard to it by Professor
J.F.W. Johnston, and which seemed to be almost conclusive in
favor of the value of the whole meal. During the past year,
however (1849), M. Eug. Peligot, an eminent French chemist, in an
elaborate article "On the Composition of Wheat," to which more
particular reference will be made hereafter, combats the opinion
that the bran is an alimentary substance. He observes that "the
difficulty of keeping the bran in flour intended for the
manufacture of bread of good quality appears to result much less
from the presence of the cellulose (one of the constituents of
woody matter) contained in wheat than that of the fatty matter.
This is found in the bran in a quantity at least triple of that
which remains in the flour, and the bolting separates it from the
ground wheat not less usefully than the cellulose itself."[31] M.
Millon objects entirely to the views of M. Peligot on this point,
and states some facts which are especially worthy of
consideration. He asserts that, according to the views of the
last named chemist, the separation at most of one part of fatty
matter sacrifices fifteen, twenty, and even twenty-five per cent.
of substances which are of the highest nutritive value. This
abstracts from wheat, for the whole amount raised in France, the
enormous sum of about two hundred millions of pounds annually.
It seems that in France the question whether the bolting of flour is
advantageous has always been decided in the most arbitrary manner.
An ordinance of Louis XIV., issued in 1658, prohibited, under a very
heavy penalty, the regrinding of the bran and its mixture with the
flour; this, with the mode of grinding then in use, caused a loss of
more than forty per cent.--(Comptes Rendus, February 19th, 1849.)
In large cities and elsewhere, there seems for some time to have
been a growing prejudice against the use of brown bread; and it is
said that now nearly all the peasantry of France bolt their flour.
The increase of this practice, according to M. Millon, threatens
the nation with an annual loss of from two to three hundred millions
of francs. If the bran was entirely valueless, there would be a loss
of more than one million a day.
It is quite difficult to determine the precise amount of bran which
may have been removed from wheat, for various samples contain such a
different proportion of bran that in the one case a removal of ten
per cent, leaves more bran in the flour than a bolting of five per
cent. in another.
The following is an analysis of bran by M. Millon; the sample being
a soft French wheat grown in 1848:--
Starch, dextrine and sugar 53.00
Sugar of liquorice 1.00
Gluten 14.90
Fatty matter 3.60
Woody matter 9.70
Salts .50
Water 13.90
Incrusting matter and aromatic principles (by difference) 3.40
------
100.
The conclusion to be drawn from this analysis is, that bran is an
alimentary substance. If it contains six per cent. more of woody
matter than the rough, flour, it has also more gluten, double that
of fatty matter, besides two aromatic principles which have the
perfume of honey, and both of which are wanting in the fine flour.
Thus by bolting, wheat is impoverished in its most valuable
principles, merely to remove a few hundredths of woody matter.
The economical suggestion which springs from these views is, that
the bran and coarse flour should be reground and then mixed with the
fine flour. Millon states that he has ascertained, by repeated
experiments, that bread thus made is of superior quality, easily
worked, and not subject to the inconvenience of bread manufactured
from the rough flour, such as is made in some places, and especially
in Belgium.
Opinions similar to those above noticed are entertained by Professor
Daubeny. "The great importance attached to having bread perfectly
white is a prejudice," he says, "which leads to the rejection of a
very wholesome part of the food, and one which, although not
digestible alone, is sufficiently so in that state of admixture with
the flour in which nature has prepared it for our use." After
quoting the remarks of Professor Johnston on the same side of the
question, he adds, "that according to the experiments of Magendie,
animals fed upon fine flour died in a few weeks, whilst they thrived
upon the whole meal bread." Brown bread, therefore, should be
adopted, not merely on a principle of economy, but also as providing
more of those ingredients which are perhaps deficient in the finer
parts of the flour.--("Gardeners' Chronicle," January 27th, 1849, p.
53.)
The remarks of Dr. Robertson may also be here introduced. "The
advantage," he observes, "of using more or less of the coverings of
the grain in the preparation of bread has often been urged on
economical principles. There can be no doubt that a very large
proportion of nutritive matter is contained in the bran and the
pollard; and these are estimated to contain about one-fifth part of
the entire weight of the wheat grain. It is, unquestionably, so far
wasteful to remove these altogether from the flour; and in the case
of the majority of people, this waste may be unnecessary, even on
the score of digestibility."[32] This subject can also be rendered
apparent to the eye. If we make a cross section of a grain of wheat,
or rye, and place it under the microscope, we perceive very distinct
layers in it as we examine from without inwards. The outer of them
belong to the husk of the fruit and seed, and are separated as bran,
in grinding. But the millstone does not separate so exactly as the
eye may by means of the microscope, not even as accurately as the
knife of the vegetable anatomist, and thus with the bran is removed
also the whole outer layer of the cells of the nucleus, and even
some of the subjacent layers. Thus the anatomical investigations of
one of these corn grains at once explains why bread is so much the
less nutritious the more carefully the bran has been separated from
the meal.[33] There can therefore be little doubt that the removal
of the bran is a serious injury to the flour; and I have presented
the above array of evidence on this point in the hope of directing
public attention to it here, as has been done in various foreign
countries.
After this, it will easily be inferred that I am not disposed to
look with much favor upon the plan proposed by Mr. Bentz for taking
the outer coating or bran from wheat and other grains previously to
grinding.[34] Independently of the considerations which have already
been presented, it is far from being proved, as this gentlemen
asserts, that the mixture of the bran with the meal which results
from the common mode of grinding is the chief cause of the _souring_
of the flour in hot climates. On the contrary, the bran is perhaps
as little liable to undergo change as the fine flour, and then the
moistening to which, as I am informed, the grain is subjected
previously to the removal of the husk, is still further
objectionable, and must be followed by a most carefully-conducted
process of kiln-drying.
_Nutritious properties of various articles of food_.--There seems to
be some difference of opinion in regard to the nutritious properties
of various kinds of food. It is generally, however, agreed that
those which contain the largest proportion of nitrogenous matters
are the most nutritious. It is on this account that haricots, peas,
and beans, form, in some sort, substitutes for animal food. Tubers,
roots, and even the seeds of the cereal grasses, are but moderately
nutritious. If we see herbivorous animals fattening upon such
articles, it is because, from their peculiar organisation, they can
consume them in large quantities. It is quite doubtful whether a man
doing hard work could exist on bread exclusively. The instances
which are given of countries where rice and potatoes form the sole
articles of food of the inhabitants, are believed to be incomplete.
Boussingault states that in Alsace, for example, the peasantry
always associate their potato dish with a large quantity of sour or
curdled milk; in Ireland with buttermilk. "The Indians of the Upper
Andes do not by any means live on potatoes alone, as some travellers
have said they do: at Quito, the daily food of the inhabitants is
_lorco_, a compound of potatoes and a large quantity of cheese. Rice
is often cited as one of the most nourishing articles of diet. I am
satisfied, however, after having lived in countries where rice is
largely consumed, that it is anything but a substantial, or, for its
bulk, nutritious article of sustenance."--("Rural Economy," Amer.
edition, p. 409.) These statements are further confirmed by the
observations of M. Lequerri, who, during a long residence in India,
paid particular attention to the manners and customs of the
inhabitants of Pondicherry. "Their food," he states, "is almost
entirely vegetable, and rice is the staple; the inferior castes only
ever eat meat. But all eat _kari_ (curry), an article prepared with
meat, fish, or vegetable, which is mixed with the rice, boiled in
very little water. It is requisite to have seen the Indians at their
meals to have any idea of the enormous quantity of rice which they
will put into their stomachs. No European could cram so much at a
time; and they very commonly allow that rice alone will not nourish
them. They very generally still eat a quantity of bread."[35] In
regard to the proportion of nutritious matter contained in grains of
various kinds, it may be remarked that the tables which have been
constructed as the results of various experiments are liable to an
objection, which will be more particularly adverted to under another
head. For example, two substances, by the process of ultimate
analysis, may exhibit the same proportion of nitrogenous matter, and
still differ very materially in their value as articles of food.
Much depends on the digestibility of the form in which this matter
is presented to the digestive organs. A strong illustration is
afforded in the case of hay, the proportion of nutritive matter of
which, about 9.71, would certainly not represent its power of
affording nourishment to the human system. It is in truth quite
impossible to arrive at any other than approximate results from the
operations of chemistry, as to the amount of nutriment contained in
a given quantity or weight of any article of food.[36] It is perhaps
not irrelevant to notice in this place some of the researches which
have recently been made upon fermentation, and particularly its
effects in the manufacture of bread. It appears that when this
process is brought about by the addition of yeast or leaven to the
paste or dough, the character of the mass is materially altered. A
larger or smaller proportion of the flour is virtually lost.
According to Dr. William Gregory the loss amounts to the very large
proportion of one-sixteenth part of the whole of the flour. He says,
"To avoid this loss, bread is now raised by means of carbonate of
soda, or ammonia and a diluted acid, which are added to the dough,
and the effect is perfectly satisfactory. Equally good or better
bread is obtained, and the quantity of flour which will yield
fifteen hundred loaves by fermentation, furnishes sixteen hundred by
the new method, the sugar and fibrin (gluten) being
saved."--("Outlines of Chemistry," p. 352.)
Another author, Dr. R.D. Thomson, states, as the results of his
experiments upon bread produced by the action of hydrochloric acid
upon carbonate of soda, "that in a sack of flour there was a
difference in favor of the unfermented bread to the amount of thirty
pounds thirteen ounces, or in round numbers, a sack of flour would
produce one hundred and seven loaves of unfermented bread, and only
one hundred loaves of fermented bread of the game weight. Hence it
appears that in the sack of flour by the common process of baking,
seven loaves, or six-and-a-half per cent, of the flour are driven
into the air and lost."--("Experimental Researches on the Food of
Animals," &c., p. 183.)
The only objection to the general introduction of this process seems
to be the degree of care and accuracy required in properly adjusting
the respective qualities and quantities of acid and alkali, and
which could seldom be attained even by those who are largely engaged
in the manufacture of bread.
I cannot leave this subject without adverting to a practice which
has prevailed in England and France, and perhaps also in this
country, of steeping wheat before sowing it in solutions of arsenic,
sulphate of copper, and other poisonous preparations.
The result has been that injurious effects have often followed, both
to those who are employed in sowing such grain, and to those who
have used the bread manufactured from it. The great importance of
the subject led to the appointment of a commission at Rouen, in
France, in December, 1842, having for its object to determine the
best process of preventing the smut in wheat, and to ascertain
whether other means less dangerous than those above noticed were
productive of equally good results. The labors of this commission
extended over the years 1843-'44-'45, and the experiments were
repeated two years following on the farm of Mr. Fauchet, one of the
commission, at Boisquilaume, in the department of the Seine
Inferieure.
The results arrived at by this commission are--1st. That it is not
best to sow seed without steeping. 2nd. That it is best to make use
of the sulphate of soda and lime process, inasmuch as it is more
simple and economical, in no way injurious to the health, and yields
the soundest and most productive wheat. 3rd. That the use of
arsenic, sulphate of copper, verdigris, and other poisonous
preparations, should be interdicted by the government.--("Gardeners'
Chronicle," January 6th, 1849, pp. 10 and 11.)
_Composition of wheat and wheat flour, and the various modes of
determining their nutritive value_.--In my former report it was
stated that the analyses of the various samples of wheat, the
results of which were there given, had been chiefly directed to the
determining the amount of rough _gluten_ which they contained. My
reasons for adopting this plan, and the arguments in favor of its
general accuracy, as compared with other modes of analysis, and
especially that by which the ultimate composition is ascertained,
were also detailed. A more full examination of this subject has
served only to strengthen the opinion already expressed, that for
the great purpose to be answered by these researches, the process
which I have adopted is, to say the least, as free from objection
as any other, and if carefully and uniformly carried out, will truly
represent the relative values of the several samples of wheat flour.
As this is a matter of much consequence in a practical point of
view, I trust I shall be excused for introducing some additional
facts in regard to it.
The term _gluten_ was originally applied to the gray, viscid,
tenacious, and elastic matter, which is obtained by subjecting wheat
flour to the continuous action of a current of water. But it appears
that this is a mixture of fibrine and caseine, with what is now
called _glutine_, and a peculiar oily or fatty matter. Now these
substances may be separated from each other, but the processes
employed for this purpose are tedious, and to insure accuracy the
various solvents must be entirely pure--a point which, especially in
the case of alcohol and ether, is not ordinarily easy to be
attained. This will be rendered still more evident by a reference to
a French process, which will hereafter be noticed.
But were it much less difficult in every case accurately to separate
the constituents of gluten, it would not, in my opinion, be of the
least practical utility. It is to the peculiar mechanical property
of this gluten that wheat flour owes its superior power of detaining
the carbonic acid engendered by fermentation, and thus communicating
to it the vesicular spongy structure so characteristic of good
bread.[37] It may also be added, that the results of more than one
hundred trials have satisfied me that a diminution or loss of
elasticity in the gluten is the surest index of the amount of injury
which the sample of flour has sustained. Whether, therefore, the
sample contains a certain proportion of nitrogen, or whether it
contains albumen, fibrine, and caseine in sufficient quantity, it
may still want the very condition which is essential to the
manufacture of good bread. My objection, therefore, to the mere
determination, however accurate, of the proportion of nitrogen
contained in wheat flour, or of the various principles which form
the gluten, is, that it does not represent the value of the various
samples for the only use to which they are applied, viz., the making
of bread. The remarks of Mulder, the celebrated Dutch chemist, upon
the subject of manures, are so applicable to this point that I
cannot refrain from quoting them. "It has," he says, "become almost
a regular custom to determine the value of manures by the quantity
of nitrogen they yield by ultimate analysis. This method is entirely
erroneous; for it is based upon the false principle, that by
putrefaction all nitrogeneous substances are immediately converted
into ammonia, carbonic acid, and water! But these changes sometimes
require a number of years. Morphine, for example, is prepared by
allowing opium to putrefy; and the process for preparing leucin, a
substance which contains 10.72 of nitrogen, is to bring cheese into
putrefaction. Cheese, therefore, does not perhaps in a number of
years resolve itself into carbonic acid, ammonia, and water, but
produces a crystalline substance, which contains no ammonia. Hence
the proportion of nitrogen yielded by manures is not a proper
measure of their value, and therefore this mode of estimating that
value ought to be discontinued."[38] We infer, therefore, that the
proportion of nitrogen furnished by food of various kinds is not the
true measure of their nutritious value, and cannot for practical
purposes take the place of that process by which the amount of rough
gluten is determined.
No better illustration can be given of the uncertainty which attends
the inferences drawn from the ultimate composition, than the fact
heretofore stated in regard to hay, the nutritive value of which is
placed in the tables containing the results of these analyses, at a
figure nearly the same as that of ordinary wheat flour.[39] In the
paper on the "Composition of Wheat," by M. Peligot--(" Comptes
Rendus," February 5th, 1849)--to which I have already referred, the
author gives the results of the various analyses which he has made,
and details the process he adopted.
Aware of the complex and difficult nature of the examination as
conducted by him, he seems to doubt in regard to some of the results
given in his tables In the fourteen samples which he analysed, the
proportion of water ranges from 13.2 to 15.2, which is a rather
higher average than is yielded by our American samples, especially
those which have not been shipped across the Atlantic. Of the
nitrogenous matter, soluble and insoluble, the proportions range
from 9.90 per cent, to 21.50 per cent.; the former being from a
sample of very soft and white French wheat; the latter from a very
hard wheat with long grains, from Northern Africa, cultivated at
Verriéres. Another sample from Egypt yielded 20.60 per cent, of
these nitrogenous matters, both of which are very remarkable
proportions.
In describing the process for ascertaining the amount of insoluble
nitrogenous matters, this author adverts to their estimation either
by the quantity of nitrogen gas furnished, or of ammonia formed, the
last being preferred for substances, which, like wheat, contain only
a few hundredths of nitrogen. The results which he obtained by this
method were compared with those yielded by the direct extraction of
the gluten by softening the farina under a small stream of water.
"These results," says he, "differ but little from each other when we
operate upon wheat in good condition, although the gluten which we
thus obtain holds some starch and fatty matter, while the starch
which is carried away by the water contains also some gluten." The
loss and gain, as I have already explained, and as has been proved
by these and other comparisons, are nearly balanced, and the amount
of rough gluten will therefore afford a fair exhibit of that of the
insoluble nitrogenous matters in this grain.
The salts in the samples of wheat analysed by M. Peligot, were
either wanting or were in small proportion; while the amount of
fatty matter ranged from 1.00 to 1.80 and 1.90 per cent.
These results agree very well with those which I have obtained. But
it is probable that the proportion is liable to great variation,
inasmuch as it is inferred that the fatty matter originates from
starch through its exposure to the general deoxidising influence
which prevails in plants.[40] There are also many difficulties
attending the accurate determination of this matter, and which are
probably the cause of the higher proportion often given. It is
properly remarked by M. Peligot that the ether employed in this
process should be free from water, and that the flour ought also to
be very dry. By neglecting these precautions, we separate not only
the fatty matter, but also a certain amount of matters soluble in
the water, which is furnished as well by the wheat as by the ether.
It would not, I think, be difficult to point out some incorrect
views entertained by this chemist, and more especially those which
relate to the fatty matter. Some of his processes for the separation
of various substances, if not faulty, require so many conditions for
success as to render the results, at least in other hands,
exceedingly uncertain.
But the capital error which he has committed is that concerning the
bran, already adverted to, which he considers injurious to the
flour, chiefly in consequence of the large proportion of fatty
matter which it contains.
In regard to the soluble nitrogenous matter usually called albumen,
from its resemblance to the animal substance of the same name, I
have to remark that in my trials the proportion has been found to be
considerably less than that often given in tables of the composition
of wheat. In one sample it was found to be as low as 0.15 per cant.,
in another it did not rise above 0.20 per cent. The amount was
usually so inconsiderable, that I did not think it worth while to
retard the progress of the work by following out processes which
could add little to the utility of these investigations.
Although much time and labor have been expended upon the analyses of
the ash of plants, I have but slight confidence in the results
heretofore given. The difficulties which attend the obtaining the
ash in a proper condition, and the fact that the products of all the
organs and parts of the plants have been analysed together, must
necessarily impair the accuracy of the experiments, and render the
inferences drawn from them of uncertain value. Much, indeed I may
say almost everything, still remains to be done in this department
of agricultural chemistry.
_Weight of wheat as an index to its value_.--Much has been said in
regard to the relative weights of the bushel of wheat of different
varieties or under different modes of culture.
As ordinarily determined, this weight ranges from fifty-six to
sixty-five or sixty-six pounds, being in a few cases set down
somewhat higher. It is said also that the bushel of wheat weighs
less in some years than it does in others, and that the difference
often amounts to two, or three, or even four pounds. Though this may
seem of comparatively little consequence for a few bushels, yet, for
the aggegate of the wheat crop of the United States, or for a State,
or even a county, it makes a great difference. Thus, were we to
estimate the product of one year in the United States at one hundred
and ten million bushels, weighing fifty-six pounds to the bushel,
and another year at one hundred and eight million bushels, weighing
sixty-two pounds, the difference in favor of the latter, though the
least in quantity, would amount to five hundred and thirty-six
million pounds in weight, or more than one million and a quarter of
barrels of flour.--(Report of the American Commissioner of Patents
for 1847, p. 117.)
It may be remarked, however, that it is not after all so easy to
determine with accuracy the weight of a bushel of wheat, nor to
decide upon the circumstances which have an influence in increasing
the density of a grain of wheat. If the microscopical
representations of wheat are to be relied on, it is probable that
the increase in the density of wheat depends upon the increase in
the proportion of gluten. I have found in several cases that, the
proportion of water being the same, those samples of wheat which
contain the largest proportion of gluten exhibit the highest
specific gravity, or, in other words, will yield the greatest number
of pounds to the bushel. But the weight of wheat will be influenced
by the proportion of water which it contains; the drier the grain,
the greater is its density; a fact which may account for the
difference which has been observed in the weight of wheat in
different seasons. If this is the cause, the calculation above given
in reference to the United States is fallacious--but if the amount
of gluten is _actually_, instead of _relatively_, increased by
peculiarities in seasons, it is no doubt correct.
I have devised a series of experiments to test the accuracy of the
statements made upon this point, but have not yet had leisure to
complete them.
_General conditions from the analyses of wheat flour_.--The large
number of analyses which I have made, and the uniformity of the
processes pursued, enable me to draw some general conclusions which
it may be useful to present in a connected form.
1. In the samples from the more northern wheat-growing States, there
seems to be little difference in the proportion of nutritive matter
that can be set down to the influence of climate. Thus, the yield of
the wheat from Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa, is scarcely inferior to
that from New York, Indiana, and Illinois, although the two latter
are somewhat farther south. Local causes, and more especially the
peculiarities of culture and manufacture, have more influence,
within these parallels of latitude, than the difference of mean
temperature.
2. The samples from New Jersey, Lower Pennsylvania, the southern
part of Ohio, Maryland (probably Delaware), Virginia, the Carolinas,
and Georgia,[41] contain less water and more nutritive matter than
those from the States previously enumerated. That the samples from
Missouri, which is included within nearly the same parallels of
latitude as Virginia, do not exhibit so high an average of nutritive
matter as those from the latter State, must be ascribed principally
to a want of care in the management of the crop, and perhaps also in
the manufacture of the flour. Virginia flour, for obvious reasons,
maintains a high reputation for shipment.
3. The difference in the nutritive value of the various samples of
wheat depends greatly upon the variety, and mode of culture,
independently of climate. The correctness of the former statement is
shown by the much larger proportions of gluten yielded by many of
the samples of _hard_ wheat from abroad, the Oregon wheat in
Virginia, and a variety of Illinois wheat, &c. And in regard to the
effect of particular modes of culture, the various analyses of
Boussingault may be referred to, and that in my table of a sample
from Ulster county, New York.
4. The deterioration of many of the samples of wheat and wheat flour
arises in most cases from the presence of a too large per centage of
water. This is often the result of a want of proper care in the
transport, and is the principal cause of the losses which are
sustained by those who are engaged in this branch of business.
5. There seems to be little doubt that a considerable portion of the
wheat and wheat flour, as well as of other breadstuffs, shipped from
this country to England, is more or less injured before it reaches
that market. It is also shown that this is mostly to be ascribed to
the want of care above noticed, and to the fraudulent mixture of
good and bad kinds. The remedy in the former case is the drying of
the grain or flour before shipment, by some of the modes proposed,
and the protection of it afterwards as completely as possible from
the effect of moisture. The frauds which are occasionally practised
should be promptly exposed, and those who are engaged in them held
up to merited reproach.
6. It has been fully shown, by the results of many trials, that the
flour obtained by the second grinding of wheat, or the whole meal,
contains more gluten than the fine flour. Hence the general use of
the latter, and the entire rejection of the bran, is wasteful, and
ought in every way to be discouraged.
7. It cannot but be gratifying to us that the average nutritive
value of the wheat and wheat flour of the United States is shown by
these analyses to be fully equal to, if not greater than, that
afforded by the samples produced in any other part of the world. And
it will, in my opinion, be chiefly owing to a want of proper care
and of commercial honesty, if the great advantages which should
accrue to this country from the export of these articles are either
endangered or entirely lost.
TABLE EXHIBITING THE PER CENTAGE COMPOSITION OF VARIOUS SAMPLES OF
AMERICAN AND FOREIGN WHEAT FLOUR, BY LEWIS C. BECK, M.D. (1849).
----------------------------------+-----+-------+------+--------------
| |Gluten | | Glucos |
Kind of Wheat Flour, and from | | and | |dextrine,|
whence obtained |Water|albumen|Starch| &c. |Bran
----------------------------------+-----+-------+------+---------+----
Country Mills, New Jersey |12.75| 11.55 | 65.95| 8.10 | .65
West Jersey Wheat |12.80| 12.32 | 69.48| 5.90 | .50
White Wheat, New Jersey |11.55| 12.60 | 66.85| 8.50 | .50
Pennsylvania Wheat |11.90| 13.16 | 66.20| 7.25 | .75
ditto ditto |13.35| 12.73 | 66.90| 6.50 | .52
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |13.35| 14.72 | 71.28 | .65
Pelham Wheat, Ulster Co., N.Y. |10.79| 13.17 | 67.74| 7.60 | .70
"Pure Genesee" Wheat |13.20| 11.05 | 75.20 | .55
Ohio Wheat, "fine" |12.85| 12.25 | 73.90 |1.00
Ohio Wheat, "superfine" |13.00| 9.10 | 77.80 | .10
Winter Wheat, Ohio |13.10| 11.56 | 66.84| 7.90 | .60
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |13.05| 12.69 | 73.61 | .65
Michigan Wheat, "superfine" |13.25| 11.10 | 74.80 | .85
Michigan Wheat |12.25| 10.00 | 67.70| 8.75 | .75
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |12.75| 11.20 | 66.00| 8.50 |1.05
Illinois Wheat |12.73| 14.61 | 65.20| 6.45 | .80
Magnolia Mill, St. Louis, Mo. |13.13| 10.27 | 69.75| 6.15 | .35
Mound Mill, St. Louis |13.48| 10.53 | 67.35| 8.15 | .20
Walsh's Mill, St. Louis |12.70| 10.63 | 69.40| 6.65 | .40
Washington Mill, St. Louis |12.88| 11.00 | 68.65| 7.27 | .20
Missouri Mill, St. Louis |13.00| 10.46 | 67.79| 8.35 | .40
O'Fallan's Mill, St. Louis |12.85| 11.25 | 68.24| 7.00 | .66
Phoenix Mill, St. Louis |13.22| 10.10 | 68.70| 7.30 | .15
Nonantum Mill, St. Louis |12.10| 11.02 | 68.60| 7.93 | .35
Franklin Mill, St. Louis |12.25| 10.29 | 69.85| 7.26 | .35
Eagle Mill, St. Louis |11.00| 10.15 | 69.50| 8.65 | .20
Winter Wheat, Missouri |14.00| 9.30 | 70.05| 6.30 | .35
Wisconsin Wheat |12.80| 13.20 | 68.90| 6.50 | .70
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |12.80| 13.46 | 72.54 |1.20
Maryland Wheat |13.00| 12.30 | 66.65| 7.10 | .65
Richmond City Mill |11.70| 13.00 | 67.50| 6.90 | .50
Haxall and Co., Richmond, Va. |11.40| 12.80 | 68.50| 6.60 | .35
Virginia Wheat, "superfine" |12.05| 12.95 | 74.50 | .50
Haxall and Co., "best brand, '49" |11.40| 13.25 | 68.20| 6.25 | .60
Haxall and Co., "2nd brand, '49" |11.00| 13.20 | 75.60 | .20
Richmond City Mill, '49 |11.90| 10.50 | 70.00| 7.10 | .50
Oregon White Wheat, Va. |12.80| 14.80 | 71.30 |1.10
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |13.85| 14.50 | 65.15| 5.90 | .60
Gallego Mill, Richmond, Va. |11.50| 13.50 | 68.35| 6.00 | .65
Ship Brandywine, Liverpool |13.38| 10.62 | 67.60| 7.75 | .65
Ship Fanchon, Liverpool |13.83| 11.38 | 67.45| 6.34 |1.00
Ship New World, Liverpool |13.65| 11.60 | 65.80| 7.70 | .65
Ship Juniata, Liverpool |12.50| 14.14 | 64.20| 8.36 | .80
Ship Stephen Lurman, Liverpool |11.65| 13.18 | 64.50| 9.55 | .68
Ship Leila, Liverpool |13.22| 13.18 | 64.65| 8.00 | .95
Ship Oxenbridge, Liverpool |13.90| 10.13 | 68.42| 7.30 | .25
| |& bran | | |
Ship Italy, Liverpool |12.94| 10.60 | 68.56| 7.90 |
Ship West Point, Liverpool |14.30| 12.30 | 63.00| 9.45 | .95
Ship W.H. Harbeck, Liverpool |13.53| 10.18 | 66.95| 8.80 | .30
Ship Princeton, Liverpool |13.40| 11.52 | 65.60| 7.90 | .85
Ship Columbus, Liverpool |13.50| 10.45 | 66.45| 8.50 |1.03
Ship Russell Glover, Liverpool |13.45| 10.47 | 66.20| 8.83 |1.05
Ship South Carolina, Liverpool |13.80| 9.00 | 70.80| 5.95 | .38
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |13.30| 9.45 | 76.90 | .35
Ship Cambridge, Liverpool |14.50| 8.52 | 70.60| 5.40 | .40
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |14.10| 9.10 | 70.55| 5.45 | .20
Ship Columbus, Liverpool |14.85| 8.47 | 76.48 | .20
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |14.15| 9.00 | 76.60 | .25
Ship Ashburton, Liverpool |13.55| 11.68 | 69.22| 5.30 | .25
Wheat grown in Canada West |12.80| 7.23 | 74.12| 5.10 | .75
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |12.60| 8.45 | 78.55 | .40
Chilian Wheat |12.44| 9.45 | 67.80| 8.37 |1.30
Chilian Wheat |12.85| 8.65 | 71.60| 6.10 | .60
| |& bran | | |
Valparaiso Wheat |12.50| 14.55 | | |
French Wheat |13.20| 9.85 | 69.00| 7.65 | .30
Spanish Wheat |13.50| 10.30 | 68.90| 7.00 | .30
Canivano Wheat |11.33| 16.35 | 63.10| 6.50 |2.30
Canivano Wheat |11.15| 15.40 | 67.25| 5.70 | .60
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |12.60| 18.70 | 67.00 |1.70
Hard wheat, grown near Malaga |10.87| 12.15 | 64.38| 12.60 |
| | | |& lactic acid
ditto ditto (2nd grinding) |10.00| 14.50 | 60.20| 15.30 |
----------------------------------+-----+-------+------+---------+----
There is no crop, the skilful and successful cultivation of which on
the same soil, from generation to generation, requires more art than
is demanded to produce good wheat. To grow this grain on fresh land,
adapted to the peculiar habits and wants of the plant is an easy
task. But such fields, except in rare instances, fail sooner or
later to produce sound and healthy plants, which are little liable
to attacks from the malady called "rust," or which give lengthened
ears or "heads," well filled with plump seeds.
Having long resided in the best wheat-growing district in the Union,
the writer has devoted years of study and observation to all the
influences of soil, climate, and constitutional peculiarities, which
affect this bread-bearing plant. It is far more liable to smut,
rust, and shrink in some soils than in others. This is true in
western New York, and every other section where wheat has long been
cultivated. As the alkalies and other fertilizing elements become
exhausted in the virgin soils of America, its crops of wheat not
only become smaller on an average, but the plants fail in
constitutional vigor, and are more liable to diseases and attacks
from parasites and destructive insects. Defects in soil and improper
nutrition lead to these disastrous results. Soils are defective in
the following particulars:
1. They lack soluble silica, or flint in an available form, with
which to produce a hard glassy stem that will be little subject to
"rust." Soluble flint is never very abundant in cultivated soils;
and after they have been tilled some years, the supply is deficient
in quantity. It is not very difficult to learn with considerable
accuracy the amount of silica which rain-water as it falls on the
earth will dissolve out of 1,000 grains of soil in the course of
eight or ten days. Hot water will dissolve more than cold; and water
charged with carbonic acid more than pure water which has been
boiled. The experiments of Prof. Rogers of the University of
Virginia, as published in Silliman's Journal, have a direct bearing
on this subject. The researches of Prof. Emmons of Albany, in his
elaborate and valuable work on "Agriculture," as a part of the
Natural History of New York, show that 10,000 parts of soil yield
only from one to three parts of soluble silica. The analyses of Dr
Jackson, as published in his Geological Survey of New Hampshire,
give similar results. Earth taken from an old and badly exhausted
field in Georgia, gave the writer only one part of soluble flint in
100,000.
What elements of crops rain water, at summer heat, will dissolve out
of ten or twenty pounds of soil, in the course of three months, is a
point in agricultural science which should be made the subject of
numerous and rigid experiments. In this way, the capabilities of
different soils and their adaptation to different crops may be
tested, in connection with practical experiments in field culture,
on the same kind of earth.
Few wheat-growers are aware how much dissolved flint an acre of good
wheat demands to prevent its having coarse, soft, and spongy stems,
which are anything but a healthy organization of the plant. In the
Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, vol. 7, there
is an extended "Report on the Analysis of the Ashes of Plants, by
Thomas Way, Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Agricultural
College, Cirencester," which gives the result of sixty-two analyses
of the ash of wheat, from as many samples of that grain, mostly
grown on different soils and under different circumstances.
In this report are given the quantity of wheat per acre, the weight
of straw cut close to the ground to the acre, and also that of the
chaff. These researches show, that from ninety-three to one hundred
and fifty pounds of soluble flint are required to form an acre of
wheat; and I will add from my own investigations, that three-fourths
of this silica is demanded by nature during the last sixty days
preceding the maturing of the crop. This is the period in which the
stem acquires its solidity and strength, and most of its
incombustible earthy matter. The quantity of this varies from three
to fifteen per cent. of the weight of the straw. Prof. Johnston and
Sir Humphry Davy give instances in which more than fifteen per cent.
of ash was found; and Prof. Way gives cases where less than three
per cent. were obtained. The mean of forty samples was four and a
half per cent. Dr. Sprengel gives three and a half as the mean of
his analyses. M. Boussingault found an average of seven per cent. As
flint is truly the _bone_ of all the grass family, imparting to them
strength, as in cane, timothy, corn, oats, rye, rice, millet, and
the proportion of this mineral varies as much in wheat-straw, as
bone does in very lean and very fat hogs or cattle.
A young growing animal, whether a child or a colt, that is kept on
food which lacks _bone-earth_, (phosphate of lime,) will have soft
cartilaginous bones. Nature cannot substitute _iron_ or any other
mineral in the animal system, out of which to form hard strong
bones; nor can any other mineral in the soil perform the peculiar
function assigned to silica in the vital economy of cereal plants.
To protect the living germs in the seeds of wheat, corn, oats, rye,
barley, &c, the cuticle or bran of these seeds contains considerable
flint. The same is true of chaff.
The question naturally arises,--How is the farmer to increase the
quantity of soluble silica or flint in his soil? This is a question
of the highest practical importance. There are three principal ways
in which the object named may be attained. First, by keeping fewer
acres under the plough. Land in pasture, if well managed, will gain
its fertility, and in the process accumulate soluble silica in the
surface soil. In this way more wheat and surer crops may be made by
cultivating a field in wheat two years than four or six. If the
field in the mean time be devoted to wool-growing, butter or
cheese-making, or to stock-raising, particular care must be taken to
make great crops of grass or clover to grow on the land, and have
all the manure, both solid and liquid, applied to its surface.
There are many counties in England that yield an average of
thirty-two bushels of wheat per acre for ten crops in succession.
There are but few of the old counties in the United States which
average the half of that quantity: and yet America has greater
agricultural capabilities than that of Great Britain.
Another way to increase soluble silica in the soil, is to grow such
crops, in rotation with wheat culture, as will best prevent the loss
of dissolved flint, at any time by leaching and washing, through the
agency of rain water. This remark is intended to apply more
particularly to those large districts devoted to cotton and tobacco
culture, plants that take up no considerable amount of silica, and
which by the constant stirring of the earth, and the clean tillage
which they demand, favor the leaching of the soil. To keep too much
of a plantation of these crops, is to lessen its capabilities for
producing good crops of corn, wheat, and barley, at a small expense.
Corn plants, well managed, will extract more pounds of silica in
three or six months from the soil, than any other. As not an ounce
of this mineral is needed in the animal economy of man or beast, it
can all be composted in cornstalks, blades, and cobs, or in the dung
and urine derived from corn, and be finally reorganized in the stems
of wheat plants. Corn culture and wheat culture, if skilfully and
scientifically conducted, go admirably together. Of the two, more
bread, more meat, and more _money_ can be made from the corn than
from the wheat plant in this country. But so soon as what is called
"high farming" in England, shall be popular in the United States,
the crops both of wheat and corn grown here will demonstrate how
little we appreciate the vast superiority of our climate for the
economical feeding and clothing of the human family, over that of
our "mother country." In several counties in England, it takes from
twelve to fourteen months to make a crop of wheat, after the seed is
put into the ground. At or near the first of December, 1847, Mr.
M.B. Moore, of Augusta, Ga., sowed a bushel of seed wheat on an acre
and a half of ground, which gave him over thirty bushels by the
middle of May following. This ground was then ploughed, and a fine
crop of hay made and cut in July. After this, a good crop of peas
was raised, and harvested in October, before it was time to seed
with wheat again, as was done. While the mean temperature of England
is so low, that corn plants will not ripen, in Georgia one can grow
a crop of wheat in the winter, and nearly two crops of corn in
succession in the summer and autumn, before it is time to sow wheat
again. No writer, to my knowledge, has done full justice to the vast
agricultural resources of the southern portion of the American
confederacy. But there is much of its soil which is not rich in the
elements of bread. Nothing but the careful study of these elements,
and of the natural laws by which they are governed, can remedy
defects in wheat culture anywhere, but especially on very poor land.
All alkaline minerals, such as potash, soda, lime, ammonia, and
magnesia, hasten the solution of the several insoluble compounds of
silica in the soil. This fact should be remembered by every farmer.
To undertake an explanation of the various ways in which alkalies,
oxides, and acids act and re-act upon each other in the surface of
the earth, when subject to tillage, would be out of place in this
outline view of wheat-growing in the United States. I may state the
fact, however, as ascertained by many analyses, that a cubic foot of
good wheat soil in the valley of the Genesee, contains twenty times
more lime than do the poorest soils in South Carolina and Georgia.
The quantity of gypsum, bone-earth, and magnesia, available as food
for plants, varies in an equal degree. Not only lime, but phosphoric
acid, potash, and magnesia are lacking in most soils, if one desires
to raise a large crop of wheat, and have the seeds of the grain
weigh as much as the straw. In a number of the specimens of wheat
analyzed by Prof. Way, when cut close to the roots, the dry wheat
outweighed the dry straw.
Having secured the growth of a bright, hard, glassy stem, the next
thing is to develop a long, well-filled ear. To this end, available
ammonia or nitrogen, phosphorus, potash, and magnesia are
indispensable. Ammonia (spirits of hartshorn) is necessary to aid in
forming the combustible part of the seed. The other ingredients
named are required to assist in making the incombustible part of the
grain. In 100 parts of the ash of wheat, there are the following
substances, viz.:--
Silica 2.28
Phosphoric acid 45.73
Sulphuric acid 0.32
Lime 2.06
Magnesia 10.94
Peroxide of iron 2.04
Potash 32.24
Soda 4.06
Chloride of sodium 0.27
-----
Total 99.94
The quantity of ash in wheat varies from 1¼ to 2½ per cent.; the
average is about 1.69. The amount of phosphoric acid in any given
quantity of the ash of wheat varies from forty to fifty per cent. of
the same.
Seeds that have a thick cuticle or bran, and little gluten, contain
a smaller per centage of phosphoric acid, and more silica. About
one-third of the ash is potash; in nearly all cases magnesia varies
from nine to fourteen per cent.; lime from one and a half to six per
cent. Peroxide of iron is seldom as abundant as in the ash above
given, and the same is true of soda. Chloride of sodium is common
salt, and exists in a small quantity. Salt is beginning to be much
used as a fertilizer on wheat lands in western New York. It operates
indirectly to increase the crop.
The following may be taken as about the average composition of the
ash of wheat-straw. It is "Specimen No. 40," in the tables of Prof.
Way, and I copy verbatim all that is said upon the subject: [Soil,
sandy; subsoil, stone and clay; geological formation, silurian;
drained; eight years in tillage; crop, after carrots, twenty tons
per acre; tilled December, 1845; heavy crop; mown, August 12th;
carried, August 20th; estimated yield, forty-two bushels per acre;
straw long, grain good, weight sixty-two pounds to the bushel.]
Length of straw, forty-two inches.
_Relation of Grain, Straw and Chaff_.
Actual quantities. Per centage.
Grain 1633 lbs. 45.15
Straw 1732 47.89
Chaff 250 6.96
----
Total 3615 lbs.
Specific gravity of grain 1.396
Weight of grain per acre 2604 lbs.
" " straw " " 2,775 3/10ths.
" " chaff " " 401 1/6th.
_Mineral Matter in an Acre._
Wheat 44 ½ lbs.
Straw 113
Chaff 47 1/6th.
-----------
Total 204 7/10ths.
_Analysis of the Ash of the Grain_.
Per centage. Removed from an acre.
lbs. ozs.
Silica 5.63 2 8
Phosphoric acid 43.98 19 8
Sulphuric acid .21 0 1 1/6th.
Lime 1.80 0 12 8/10ths.
Magnesia 11.69 5 3 2/10ths.
Peroxide of iron .29 0 2
Potash 34.51 15 5 6/10ths.
Soda 1.87 0 13 3/10ths.
----- --- ----------
Total 99.98 44 6 l/10ths.
_Analysis of Straw with its proportion of Chaff._
Per centage. Removed per acre.
lbs. ozs.
Silica 69.36 111 1 7/10ths.
Phosphoric acid 5.24 8 6 7/10ths.
Sulphuric acid 4.45 7 2 2/10ths.
Lime 6.96 11 2 2/20ths.
Magnesia 1.45 2 5
Peroxide of iron .29 1 2
Potash 11.79 18 14
Soda none none.
Chloride of sodium " "
----- --- -----------
Total 99.54 160 1 l/10ths.
If we subtract the 111 pounds of silica from 160 pounds of minerals
in the straw and chaff, the difference between what are left and
those in wheat, is not great. As the stems and leaves of wheat
plants grow before their seeds, if all the phosphoric acid, potash,
and lime available in the soil is consumed before the organization
of the seeds begin, from what source is nature to draw her supply of
these ingredients to form a good crop of wheat? If the farmer could
reverse the order of nature, and grow a good supply of seeds first,
and make straw afterwards, then many a one would harvest more wheat
and less straw. But the cultivator must grow the stems, roots, and
leaves of wheat, corn, and cotton, before nature will begin to form
the seeds of these several plants: and every one should know that
the atoms in the soil, which are consumed in organizing the bodies
of cultivated plants, are, in the main, identical in kind with those
required to make their seeds. The proportions, however, differ very
considerably. Thus, while 100 parts of the ash of wheat contain an
average of 45 parts of phosphoric acid, 100 of the ash of the wheat
straw contain an average of only 5 parts. The difference is as 9 to
1. In magnesia the disparity is only a little less striking.
In what are called the organic elements of wheat (the combustible
part) there are seven times more nitrogen in 100 pounds than in a
like weight of straw. Hence, if the farmer converts straw into
manure or compost, with the view ultimately of transforming it into
wheat, it will take 7 pounds of straw to yield nitrogen enough to
form one pound of wheat. Few are aware how much labor and money is
annually lost by the feeding of plants on food not strictly adapted
to the peculiar wants of nature in organizing the same. It is true,
that most farmers depend on the natural fertility of the soil to
nourish their crops, with perhaps the aid of a little stable and
barn-yard manure, given to a part of them. As the natural resources
of the land begin to fail, the supply must be drawn from other
quarters than an exhausted field, or its cultivator will receive a
poor return for the labor bestowed.
In Great Britain, where the necessity for liberal harvests and
artificial fertilizing is far greater than in this country, the
yield of wheat is said to be governed in a good degree by the amount
of ammonia available as food for growing plants. This opinion is
founded not at all on theory, but altogether on the teachings of
experience. But in England, limeing and manuring are so much matters
of constant practice, that few soils are so improverished as many
are in the United States, With land as naked and sterile as is much
that can be found in the whole thirteen colonies between Maine and
Alabama, English farmers could hardly pay their tithes and poor
rates, to say nothing of other taxes, rent, and the coat of
producing their annual crops.
The first step towards making farming permanently profitable in all
the older States, is to accumulate in a cheap and skilful manner the
raw material for good harvests in the soil.
Over a territory so extensive as the United States, it is extremely
difficult to lay down any rule that will be applicable even to a
moiety of the republic. There are, however, many beds of marl,
greensand, gypsum, limestone, saline and vegetable deposits
available for the improvement of farming lands, in the Union. In
addition to these, there are extraneous resources, the ocean with
its fish, its shells, its sea-weeds, and its fertilizing salts,
which will yield an incalculable amount of bread and meat. In the
subsoil and the atmosphere, every agriculturist has resources which
are not duly appreciated by one in a thousand.
As a general rule, the soil must be _deepened_ before it can be
permanently improved. One acre of soil 12 inches deep is worth more
to make money from, by cultivating it, than four acres 6 inches in
depth. Thus, admit that a soil 6 inches deep will produce 14 bushels
of wheat, and that 12 bushels will pay all expenses and give 2 for
profit. Four acres of this land will yield a net income of only 8
bushels. Now double the depth of the soil and the crop: making the
latter 28 bushels, instead of 14 per acre, and the former 12 inches
deep, in the place of 6. Fifteen bushels instead of twelve, will now
pay all annual expenses, and leave a net profit not of _two_ but of
_thirteen_ bushels per acre. If small crops will pay expenses, large
ones will make a fortune; provided the farmer knows how to enrich
his land in the most economical way. It is quite as easy to pay too
dear for improving lands, as to lose money at any other business
whatever.
The first thing for the operator to do is to acquire all the
knowledge within his reach, from the experience of others who have
done for their soils what he proposes to accomplish for his. Twenty
or fifty dollars, invested in the best agricultural works in the
English language, may save him thousands in the end, and double his
profits in two years. The Agricultural Journals of the United States
abound in information most useful to the practical farmer: and the
back volumes, if collected and bound, will form a library of great
value.
_Rotation of Crops in connexion with Wheat Culture_.--A system of
tillage and rotation which will pay best in one locality, or on one
quality of soil, and in a particular climate, will be found not at
all adapted to other localities, different soils and latitudes.
Hence, no rule can be laid down that will meet the peculiar
exigencies of a farming country so extensive as the thirty States
east of the Rocky Mountains. There are soils in Western New York,
known to the writer, which have borne good crops of wheat every
other year for more than twenty years, and produce better now than
at the beginning of their cultivation. The resources of the earth in
supplying the elements of wheat and corn are extremely variable.
There are friable shaley rocks in Livingstone county, N.Y., which
crumble and slake when exposed to the air, that abound in all the
earthy minerals necessary to form good wheat. These rocks are
hundreds of feet in thickness, and have furnished much of the soil
in the valley of the Genesee. The Onondaga Salt Group, and other
contiguous strata, which extend into Canada West, form soils of
extraordinary capacity for growing wheat. Indeed, the rocks and
"drift" of a district give character to its arable surface.
Nothing is more needed at this time than a good geological map of
the United States, accompanied by an accurate and popularly arranged
work on agricultural geology. The writer had hoped to give such a
map in this report; but it is thought best to devote another year to
the collection of geological surveys and facts, and to the making of
more critical and extended researches before publishing.
In the matter of rotation of crops in connection with wheat culture,
clover and corn are generally preferred in all the Northern, and
most of the Middle States. In New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania,
Michigan, Wisconsin, Northern Indiana, and Illinois, so far as the
writer is acquainted, a crop of wheat is made in rotation, either
every third, fourth, or fifth year. Wherever wool growing is united
with wheat culture, clover and wheat are the staple crops of the
farm. Wool and superfine flour are exported; farmers taking nearly
all the bran and shorts of the millers who purchase their wheat.
The offal of wheat makes not a little feed with chaff and cut straw.
Many agriculturists grow peas, beans, turnips, beets, and carrots in
large quantities, as well as clover, corn, oats, and barley. Peas
and beans, both stems and pulse, when well cured, are excellent feed
for sheep; and on good land they are easily grown. They prepare the
soil well for wheat.
All the manure derived from sheep is husbanded with extreme care by
the farmers who are gradually enriching their lands. On a deep,
rich, arable soil, quite a number of sheep may be kept per acre, if
highly cultivated; and their manure prepares the land for producing
generous crops of wheat at a small expense. Of all business men,
farmers should be the closest calculators of _profit_ and _loss_.
Great care should be taken to sow good and clean seed on clean land.
Previous to putting the seed in the ground (drilling is preferable
to sowing broadcast), wheat should be soaked five or six hours--not
longer--in strong brine. After this, add a peck or more of recently
slaked lime to each bushel, and shovel it over well, that the lime
may cover each seed. It is now ready to commit to the earth. Most
good farmers roll the earth after seeding: some before.
In the Southern States, planters are in the habit of permitting
their wheat to remain too long in the field after it is cradled, and
in small shocks. Good barns are too scarce in all the planting
States, and in some others.
_Summer fallowing_ is generally abandoned, except in cases where old
pastures and meadows, new prairie, or bushy bad fields are to be
subdued. As a general rule, friable soils need not be ploughed long
before the intended crop is expected to begin to grow. Among
fertilizers, wood ashes, salt, bones, lime, guano, and poudrette
have been used in wheat culture with decided advantage. In Great
Britain, manure derived from the consumption of turnips and other
root crops by sheep and neat cattle, is much used in preparing land
for wheat. Sheep, clover and peas, corn and hogs, rotate well to
insure the economical production of this staple. Manure is usually
applied to the crop preceding wheat.
It may be interesting to some readers to see in this place the mean
result of several organic analyses of wheat made by M. Boussingault.
Wheat, dried at 230 deg. _in vacuo_, was found to contain:
Carbon 46.1
Oxygen 43.4
Hydrogen 5.8
Nitrogen 2.3
Ash 2.4
-----
Total 100.0
Charcoal may be regarded as a fair representative of carbon, and
water as the representative of both oxygen and hydrogen. It will be
seen by the above figures, that over 95 per cent. of wheat is made
up of elements which greatly abound in nature in an available
condition; and the same is true of all other plants. It is doubtless
owing to this circumstance, that a comparatively small quantity of
guano and other highly concentrated fertilizers are able to produce
crops five, ten, and fifty times greater than their own weight.
Azote, or nitrogen, in the form of ammonia, or nitric acid, (aqua
fortis), and the incombustible part of plants are the elements which
least abound in soils, and should be husbanded with the greatest
care.
The Hon. C.P. Holcomb, of Delaware, furnishes some interesting remarks
on the wheat crop of the United States:--
A short wheat crop in England, Mr. Webster says, affects the
exchanges of the civilized world. In the vast increase of population
in the absence of long wars and famines, the importance of this
staple is constantly increasing. Its cultivation is the most
attractive and pleasant of all descriptions of husbandry; and its
rewards are generally remunerating, when the soil and climate are
favorable, and the markets are not too distant.