New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-07-31
try. Kansas will come into the Union IS
Free State or il will never come in at all.
sPROUTED WHEAT.

sPROUTED WHEAT.
There is no little excitement throughout this
snd adjoining States about the damage done by
the rain to the harvested aud uahsrTested
crops of grain and hay. 1t is not at all surpris-
ing that every farmer should measure his own
and bis neigbbor's crops in the same hsf-bushel
and wht never the sprouts have appeared, not
only think himself totally ruined but also be-
lieve famine to be Inevitable.
Let us look at the prospect fairly. There is
TO disputing the fact that in all the wheat re-
eion north of lat Ale the wheat, either cut or
uncut, is badly sprouted. How great the dam
spe is it is difficult TO determine, as many
formers have no precedent to judge by, not haS-
ing had such season fer several years. H.
deed, we remember only one-it was in the year
1896. though the worst Of the wet weather came
somewhat later.
That year the wheat was mostly cut and in
shocks in the field or in stacks. In the great
wheat regions Of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, the
farmers quite generally declared the crop to be
totally ruined. In some fields it did look so,
for when it was uncut the yellow heads assumed
a green shade, and the shocks and stacks be-
came as green on the surface as the adjoining
pastures. In due time, however the raining
period was over, the sprouts died. the standing
grain was cut, the shocks stacked or thrashed,
the stacks lost their bright yellow hue and
stood rusty-loOking mass OF dry weather.
beaten straw; and yet-mark the result-the
wheat inside was as bright and sound as ever
So slight was the injury that it was hardly per-
ceptible in the final result. The shocks and
tanding grain were more injured, but not ten
per cen. Of the grain was destroyed.
WHEN wheat is sprouted a good winnowing-
machine will remove most Of Tie injured ker.
pels which make excellent feW for animals.
If there be predOmnance of sprouted grains
in the grst that goes to MILL it is not spoiled for
food; it is only spoiled for light bread. The
dough, instead of rising by the ordinary process,
has tendency to liqulfy and spread out and
form sticking mass that will not be kneaded
into loaves. 1t makes good unleavened bread,
and is quite nutritious, with sgeetlsh taste
BY maIy persons bread made of sprouted wheat
is preferred, but in market the least appearance
of grown kernels will iDjure the sale. Some
millers even contend that one per cent OF such
kernels will iDjure the quality of the whole. 1t
is therefore important to the farmer that he
should be very careful to keep the sprouted
sheaves separate from the sound, and should
also separate the sound from the unsound grain
in winnOwiDg, as far as possible
The injury of rain upon wheat ia quite over
rated in this country, because we are not well
used to tour harvest weather being usually
so fine that the straw retains its golden bright
ness till it has been thrashed. Not so in En-
gland. There the rains are often so incessant
that sprouted wheat is very common, and the
business of shocking or stacking the sheaves is
an art that commands higher wages than reap
ing. There the stacks are always matched t.
preserve them from sprouting on the outside,
and often built hollow to dry them on the inside.
In this country we are much more careless.
Our wheat is often exposed to complete soak
ings. Much Of that grown in the West is
tbrashed on the ground and often lies in pile
through long rain, and if a warm one, some of
the outside grains are sprOuted, but the inside
of The pile is uninjured
The Danubian wheat-boats are without roofs;
the grain is piled up in heap rounded on top,
and exposed to all the rains that fall during
long voyage. If the weather be warm, the out
side grows and mats together some inches deep,
and that protects the remainder. The worst of
the sproued part is only fit for beasts, while
that but slightly sprouted sells as food for man,
and that below the wetted crust is fit for ship
ment to France or England.
We have no doubt that the grain is injured by
the present wet spell, some accounts of which
we continue to give; but it is not "uttery
"ruinous." We may doubt whether farmers
do not gain more in other crops than they Will
lose in wheat by the rains. Meantime let US
console ourselves that we are not likely to be
destitute of wheat. trustworthy writer
makes an estimate "that Ohio will yield the
"present season twenty-five millions Of
bushels, Illinois eighteen millions, Wisconsin
"ten millions, Michigan eight millions, and
Pennsylvania twenty millions" There is no
prospect of famine.
THE PROSPECT.
The ouestion ia unon the country for so.