Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1870-03-17
wheat as a Civilizer.

An army, said famous captain, is like
serpent: it travels on its belly. So with
the grand march of the race true advance
is made in proportion to the quantity of
first class food which can be obtained by
all classes. The chemists and ANTAGONISTS
have brought the philosophy of nutrition
to positive science We know that food
is the best which re-enforces the wasting
blood with the greatest promptness and
certainty. We know that of the cereals
wheat is king, because it has the great
est power Of y single grain of suppor-
ting vigorous and earnest life. A hun
drcd English wheat eaters govern as ma
ny thousands Of the rice consuming swarms
of lower Asia. The Indian, eating maize
and wild meat, gives way to the Europe
an living on stall meat and wheat bread.
Ia our late war the regions that raise least
wheat yielded first to the pressure; while
the States which raise most wheat made
the most stubborn resistance, and their
soldiers were more hardy. rasolute, and
irrcpressible. In all countries where civ
ilization is advancing there is steady in
crease in the number of those who eat
wheaten bread, and in the quantity Which
is consumed by each person.
In England and Wales the amount eaten
by each person on an average is 6 bush
els, il Scotland 4 bushels, in ireland 81
These proportions accurately represent the
value aud power of these countries in civ
ilization The demand for wheat bread
is constantly and everywhere on the in
crease, and so is the demand for the most
concentrated and nutritious meats. Eng
lish statisticians some time ago noticed the
steady rise in the price of beef and NUT
ton, and that it outruns the growth Of
population. Their dry columns, compiled
from death rates and census tables, prove
some very cheerful and significant facts
that the number of those who eat from a
wheaton loaf twice Gay and have meat
once day is regularly increasing that
in the same proportion the areage dura-
ton of human life increases, and the re-
fnement, the courage, and enterprise Of
communities is enhanced. Such is now
the demand for wheat IN Great Britain
that although the pick Of her acres is al
ways given to this kingly cereal, and her
average is % bushels to the acre. she can
no. begin to raise bread for her population,
but calls on the rest of the world. and
mainly on America. for fifty or sixty mil
lion bushels annually Facts like these
may with propricty cheer the American
grain farmer and give him heart, when
he hears that winter is setting in with the
bulk of the wheat crop lmoved and the
price not encouraging For years he has
received price which has made the five
cent loaf of the poor man in cities sorry
little bite. Now its size can be enlarged
doubled nearly. The great nations of
Europe can have more and more of the
best food, the nutriment most exactly fit
ted to develop the mu' c'es, reinforce the
blood and feed the brain. Tiny Great
ures, working by myrials in tropic seas,
builds up by har-breadths of daily growth
those vast scatfolis of coral to which is
lands arc anchored, b. which the CONT
ncnts are propped. So ten thousand
lonely ploushmea and sewers of the seed
in wide prairles or by far rivers Of the
West are each adding, pound by pound
and tun by tan, to tie vast aggre gate Of
resources by which the energy, the daring
and the toll of modern progress are made
possible. The supply train is just as in
dispensible in campaign as the parks of
artillery. So in society the wheat-grow
er advances soc;e'y as truly, though not
as conspiciousy. as he who builds the long
railroads, utters the ringing speech, or
achieves the brilliant literary success.
~ 7. Tribune.