The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-12 00:00:00

BREAD IN PARIS.

A pamphlet which has just appeared under the
title of La Verite sur la Boulangerie, by M. Le-
bandy, gives some insight into the present organisa-
tion of the trade in Paris, and the difficulties exist-
ing between the Prefect of the Seine and the
corporation of bakers, to which we may per-
haps attribute the bad quality of the bread at
present delivered to the consumer. The Caisse
de la Boulangerie was instituted in 1853 in order
to maintain bread at a reasonable price by grant-
ing advances to the bakers in bad years, to be
repaid in favourable ones. As the bread consumed
by the population of Paris is made with flour con.
stituting from 64 to 70 per cent. of the weight of
corn put into the mill, experiments were made
at the Maison Scipion, or general bakehouse of
the hospitals, by order of the Prefect, with a view
to ascertain whether 75 per cent. of good flour
without injury to the quality of bread, the price of
which might then be reduced by five or seven centimes
per kilo. Since then,the Maison Scipion has become an
important grinding and baking establishments,
under the direction of M. Salone. In four years
it has produced upwards of 20 millions of kilo-
grammes of bread, made out of the same weight of
corn, proving the truth of Lavoisier's proposition,
that a pound of corn should yield a pound of
bread, the water used in making the latter being-
equal to the weight of the bran separated by grind
ing. The Maison Scipion, where all the operations
of grinding, kneading, &c., are performed by steam,
has opened shops for the sale of its produce in all
the principal markets of Paris, and has thus entered
into competition with the bakers, who, seeing their
privileges thus invaded, have given utterance to
loud complaints. But here the question arises, can
the bakers prodnce a quality to that of the Maison
Scipion, which has the advantage of employing
improved methods and machinery not attainable
by the trade ? The General Bakehouse not only
gets 75 per cent. of flour out of the grain, but
obtains it of a superior quality, with all its nutritive
elements and its natural flavour, owing to its having
been subjected for a much shorter time to the action
of the millstones. Again, by the application of
steam, improved bolting and kneading machines are
set in motion, by which a double quantity of dough
can be produced, the number of workmen remain-
ing the same. These advantages being evidently
beyond the reach of private bakers, the Prefect of
the Seine wished to create large baking establish-
ments in Paris, on the model of the Maison Scipion,
thus superseding the corporation of bakers. The
Council of State appointed a commission in 1859 to
examine the question ; and, the report being unfa-
vourable, the Prefect of the Seine laid it before a com-
mission of the Municipal Council, under the presi-
dency of M. Dumas, which drew up another re-
port in a directly opposite sense ; and it now re-
mains for the Government to decide whether the
privileges of the bakers are to be abolished, and
the trade thrown open, or the cld system is to be
continued or modified. On this subject our author
enters into some details to show that machinery
moved by steam can and ought to be introduced into
private establishments, as indeed it has been in two
of the first in Paris, where two loaves more are pro-
duced per sack of flour than in other bakehouses.
He likewise proves that the Parisian public is
wrong in preferring very white bread to that of
ordinary whiteness, since the millers have thereby
been induced to devise every means for separating
from the flour all those parts which tend to diminish
the whiteness of the flour. This can only be
done by making the corn pass several times
through the mill, whereby the flour loses its
flavour, and its gluten is deteriorated. The
whitest flour, as M. Dumas observes, is that
which has lost some of its useful parts. The
outer tegument of corn should alone be separated,
and what remains should be used in its natural
state, in order to obtain bread possessing all its
nutritive qualities, of an agreeable flavour, and
easy of digestion.

COUNTRY MARKETS.


GLOUCESTER—Nov. 9.

A good supply of English wheat, which met a steady de-
mand, at no reduction on last week's prices. Oats inquired
for, and the same in value. Barley a very dull trade.
In beans and peas no change in price.